GRADUATION PROJECT - Universiteit Twenteessay.utwente.nl/76848/1/Demarchi, R. 1896032 _openbaar.pdf · GRADUATION PROJECT STIMULATING THE DIGITAL TRANSITION IN THE ITALIAN CONSTRUCTION

GRADUATION PROJECT

STIMULATING THE DIGITAL TRANSITION IN THE ITALIAN

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

ACADEMIC YEAR 2018-2019

Author: Roberto Demarchi – S1896032

University of Twente - Drienerlolaan 5, 7522 NB Enschede,

The Netherlands

Faculty: Engineering Technology Program: Construction Management and Engineering

Track: Markets and Organizations

Supervisors:

Dr. Voordijk Hans

Siebelink Sander

Date: 02/11/2018

ROBERTO DEMARCHI - S1896032

GRADUATION PROJECT:

STIMULATING THE DIGITAL TRANSITION IN THE ITALIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

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Summary

0. Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. 4

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 6

2. Concretizing the problem ...................................................................................................................... 7

2.1 Problem statement .............................................................................................................................. 8

2.2 Research Objective............................................................................................................................. 8

2.3 Research questions ............................................................................................................................. 8

2.4 Discussion on relevance ..................................................................................................................... 9

3. Research Design ....................................................................................................................................10

4. BIM Implementation Challenges ..........................................................................................................16

4.1.1 Regulations and norms ...............................................................................................................16

4.1.2 Common standards and information exchange ............................................................................17

4.1.3 BIM adoption in a national level .................................................................................................17

4.1.4 Level of client’s request for the use of BIM ................................................................................18

4.2 Organizational challenges..................................................................................................................18

4.2.1 Time necessary to adopt the new processes .................................................................................19

4.2.2 High initial investment ...............................................................................................................19

4.2.3 Organizational structure and strategy ..........................................................................................19

4.2.4 Top management support ............................................................................................................20

4.2.5 Re-define the business model......................................................................................................20

4.2.6 Assign responsibilities for BIM implementation .........................................................................20

4.2.7 Re-organization of teams ............................................................................................................21

4.2.8 Data exchange within the firm ....................................................................................................21

4.2.9 Developing a collaborative way of working ................................................................................21

4.2.10 Promotion of the company’s BIM capacity ...............................................................................22

4.2.11 Contract change arrangements and costs ...................................................................................22

4.3 Individual challenges.........................................................................................................................22

4.3.1 Cultural aspect ............................................................................................................................23

4.3.3 Knowledge and skills..................................................................................................................23

4.4 Technological challenges ..................................................................................................................24

4.4.1 Interoperability ...........................................................................................................................24

4.4.2 Current IT infrastructure support ................................................................................................24

4.4.3 Scalability of BIM models ..........................................................................................................24

5 A case-study approach – General Planning ..........................................................................................26


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5.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................26

5.2Methodology ......................................................................................................................................27

5.3 BIM implementation history and actual BIM situation .......................................................................29

5.4Desired BIM situation ........................................................................................................................30

5.5 BIM implementation challenges ........................................................................................................32

5.5.1 Identified challenges ............................................................................................................32

5.6 Comparison with the theoretical framework.......................................................................................36

5.6.1 Environmental challenges ...........................................................................................................37

5.6.2 Technological challenges ............................................................................................................38

5.6.3 Individual challenges ..................................................................................................................38

5.6.4 Organizational challenges ...........................................................................................................39

5.7 Conclusion of the case-study .............................................................................................................41

6.Overcoming the challenges and recommendations ...............................................................................42

6.1 Methodology .....................................................................................................................................42

6.2 Recommendations addressing the BIM implementation challenges ....................................................44

6.2.1 Contextual level actions ..............................................................................................................45

6.2.2 Organizational level actions ........................................................................................................47

6.3 A possible BIM implementation roadmap for an Italian design firm...................................................53

6.4 Conclusions of chapter 6 ...................................................................................................................55

7. Discussion and limitations ....................................................................................................................56

7.1 Limitations of the research ................................................................................................................57

8. General conclusions of the research .....................................................................................................60

8.1 Main conclusions ..............................................................................................................................60

9. References .............................................................................................................................................63

10. Appendixes ..........................................................................................................................................67


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Graduation Project

Author: Roberto Demarchi – S1896032

University of Twente - Drienerlolaan 5, 7522 NB Enschede, Netherlands

dd. 02 November 2018

Stimulating the digital transition in the Italian construction industry

0. Abstract

In the last couple of years, Information Technology (IT) has found its way to the Architecture, Engineering

and Construction (AEC) industry, since IT-enabled application have shown their capability of taking over

mechanical business and data operations. Within the construction sector, IT application has found its way

under the denominator Building Information Modelling (BIM). The adoption of BIM for a design company

doesn’t require only a change from the traditional 2D way of design to 3D projects, but a whole process of

transition change is necessary. a whole process regarding the company organization, structure and

knowledge is necessary to fully understand and use all the advantages deriving from BIM, even if not

without challenges, due to the difficulties and costs related to the transition CAD-BIM. Even if BIM

implementation in Europe started few years ago, BIM maturity level of European countries is not the same.

The literature shows how BIM implementation topic has not reached a high level in the Italian construction

sector yet. To this extend, there is insufficient lack of knowledge among BIM design companies on BIM

implementation problems and what needs to be done to successfully carry out the digital transition CAD-

BIM. As a consequence of the above mentioned problem, the goal of this research is to provide to Italian

design companies an overview about what the BIM implementation challenges are and what needs to be

done to overcome those issues by defining a sequence of actions to carry out the digitalization process (BIM

implementation roadmap). The research aims to provide an answer to the following questions:

1. What are the challenges related to BIM implementation an Italian design firm might encounter?

2. What are the possible strategies and recommendations needed for an Italian design company to overcome

the challenges described, and to conduct the digital transition from CAD to BIM and successfully implement

BIM into its every-day working routine?

This research can be divided into three main phases.

In phase one, a theoretical framework have been developed from previous studies such as the TOE

framework, the IDT theory and Adriaanse’s framework about what the main BIM implementation challenges

are when adopting BIM inside a design firm. Four groups (environmental, organizational, individual and

technological) and twenty BIM implementation challenges were collected in the theoretical framework.

Specifically, four environmental challenges were collected (regulations and norms, common standards and

information exchange, BIM adoption at a national level, level of clients’ request for the use of BIM), eleven

organizational challenges (time necessary to adopt new processes, high investment, organizational structure

and strategy, top management support, re-define the business model, assign responsibilities for BIM

implementation, re-organization of teams, data exchange within the firm, developing a collaborative way of

working, promotion of the company’s BIM capacity, contract change arrangements and costs), three

individual challenges (cultural aspect, individual drive towards change, knowledge and skills) and three

technological challenges (interoperability, current IT infrastructure support, scalability of BIM models).

In phase two a case-study approach has been used to analyze the current and expected BIM situation of

General Planning (GP), 12th Italian design firm for revenue, investigating which BIM implementation


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challenges of the previously developed framework were present in the case-study. To this extend, twelve

BIM implementation challenges emerged as result of the interview process, which are: (1) Lack of clients’

awareness about BIM advantages and request of BIM, (2) Lack of regulations about BIM models’ privacy,

collaboration and in general how to deal with a construction process with BIM, (3) Lack of collaboration

between companies, especially when data are not protected, (4) Traditional way of working is still followed

without a clear BIM workflow, (5) Lack of well-defined roles and responsibilities, (6) Overcoming the

comfort of employees to change their working practice, (7) High initial investment without assessing BIM

economic advantages in the short-term, (8) Lack of all the company’s members direction to BIM, (9)

exchange and set up of information from the beginning, (10) Promotion of the company’s BIM capacity, (11)

Interoperability between different software version, (12) High initial time to be invested to create templates,

collaborative way of working and first projects with BIM. All these challenges emerged to be interrelated

with the theoretical framework, however sometimes a different definition has been used because more

specific and adapted to the context to which the research was conducted. For the environmental challenges

found out from the case-study, the framework does not include directly the common standards and

information exchange as a relevant challenge, because of a lack of regulations about this concept. However,

it can be seen that the lack of regulations refers to the BIM models’ privacy, while the lack of collaboration

between companies emerged when data are not protected. From the technological challenges which came up

from the theoretical framework, only the interoperability between different software slightly affected the

BIM implementation in GP as a result of the strong IT system implemented by the company in the last years.

For the individual challenges it can be noticed as inside GP, almost all the designers seem to show

difficulties in overcoming the comfort to change their working practice. Some of the challenges from the

theoretical framework emerged in the case-study, such as the high initial investment, the lack of company’s

direction to BIM, lack of BIM capability’s promotion, information exchange and time-consuming process.

However, two new challenges came up, the lack of a clear BIM workflow and, as a consequence, the lack of

well-defined roles and responsibilities aligned with the tasks developed through the workflow itself.

Moreover, a lack of all company’s members direction to BIM appeared to be relevant, a high top

management support emerged, while the business model re-definition did not emerge as a relevant challenge

and contract changes will be an important future challenge.

In Phase 3, twelve BIM implementation actions and recommendations have been proposed on what needs to

be done to overcome the challenges which came up in phase 2. To this extend, the BIM implementation

actions proposed are: (A) Development of new regulations about BIM models’ privacy and BIM process, (B)

Stimulating the clients’ BIM request in construction projects, (C) Developing a feasibility study for BIM, (D)

set up the BIM strategy, (E) Developing a business model for BIM, (F) Developing a BIM workflow, (G)

Developing roles and responsibilities inside the BIM workflow, (H) Creation of a marketing department, (I)

Forming the BIM implementation group, (J) Trainings of resources and employees – human resource

development plan, (K) Developing collaboration and procedural protocol, (L) Developing the technical

resource plan. Those actions have been grouped up in a BIM implementation roadmap which is going to be

used by Italian design firms facing the digitalization process CAD-BIM. The roadmap represents the

sequence of actions which can be followed by a generic Italian design firm trying to overcome the BIM

implementation challenges, however, it needs to be adapted to the specific situation of the firm itself. The

roadmap was divided into five phases which are: the Initial or preliminary phase, Decision-making phase,

Planning phase, Implementing phase and Post implementation phase.

The research can find its consistency as part of the literature regarding BIM implementation, explaining what

are the issues regarding BIM adoption in the Italian construction sector for which the existing literature does

not provide enough results. To this extend, the study can be useful for either theoretical (new researches,

extension of the theoretical framework, new case-study analysis) and practical (Italian design firm trying to

implement BIM inside an organization) purposes.


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1. Introduction

In the last couple of years, Information Technology (IT) has found its way to the Architecture, Engineering

and Construction (AEC) industry, since IT-enabled application have shown their capability of taking over

mechanical business and data operations (Bughin et al., 2013), (Schmidt and Cohen, 2013). Employing IT

applications in the construction process serves to make information activities, such as information retrieval

and communication, more efficient as well as enabling stakeholders to effectively handle materials, by

reducing for example inventory demands (Bjork, 2002). Within the construction sector, IT application has

found its way under the denominator Building Information Modelling (BIM) which was proposed and

defined during an ambitious project under the supervision of Stichting Bouwresearch of Rotterdam between

the years 1987 and 1989 as a design process model (Bjork, 2002).

According to Murphy (2014) BIM is an integrated model in which information is collated, processed and

then disseminated to key stakeholders and eventually is to provide coordinated production information. BIM

technologies can also improve work processes and data exchange between all the stakeholders through the

sharing of information providing by the model (Palos et al., 2014) that helps to overcome information

asymmetry. As Murphy (2014) stated, the adoption of BIM as a tool for five-dimensional modeling improves

the quality and efficiency of cost management services for front-end projects.

Indeed, the usage of BIM into the construction process has been proved to be beneficial for construction

companies due to its countless advantages, such as the improvement of collaboration between different

stakeholders, a better cost control and predictability and the reduction of mistakes during the construction

phase of each project and the positive impact in a project delivery and outcome (Poirier et al., 2015).

In the recent literature it is found that the adoption is a pivotal factor for construction firms to harness the full

potential of BIM applications (Wang and Chong, 2015). Even when the full potential is recognized, there

continues to be a pervasive resistance to adopt innovation in construction due to barriers from a business

perspective (Brewer and Gajendran, 2012) as well as from a technological perspective (Palos et al., 2014).

BIM implementation process refers to a socio-technical view in which it does not only consider the

implementation of technology but also the socio-cultural environment that provides the context for its

implementation (Arayici et al. 2011).

The adoption of BIM for a design company doesn’t require only a change from the traditional 2D way of

design to 3D projects, but a whole process of transition change is necessary.

Change management is an integral process related to all project internal and external factors, influencing

project changes. It can be used to solve problems by introducing all necessary changes and controlling this

process of changing. Change management is closely connected with all the different aspects related to an

organization, such as goals, costs, risks, quality, communications and other key integrative processes

(Voropajev, 1998). For all the reasons mentioned above, a whole process regarding the company

organization, structure and knowledge is necessary to fully understand and use all the advantages deriving

from BIM (Khosrowshahi and Arayici, 2012). However, this process of transition into BIM practices for

construction companies is not without challenges. Indeed, several construction companies , due to the

difficulties and costs related to the BIM transition, prefer to keep the old way of working, delaying the

passage to parametric IT applications (Elmualim and J. Gilder, 2013).


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2. Concretizing the problem

This section aims to describe more specifically the problem mess. The context of the research will be the

Italian construction market, focusing on the implementation of BIM in Italian design companies.

BIM implementation in Europe started few years ago, with countries such as Norway, Sweden, Finland

(COBIM , 2012) and UK (AEC BIM Technology Protocol, 2015), which can be considered the first

European developers of common BIM standards used as guidelines in construction projects. The European

Union started in 2014 to stimulate the adoption of BIM with the Directive 2014/24/EU, which states “ For

public works contracts and design contests, Member States may require the use of specific electronic tools,

such as building information modeling tools or similar” (The European Parliament, 2014). As it can be seen,

the main regulation’s goal is to stimulate public European authorities to adopt and consider BIM for future

national construction codes. The Italian Minister of Infrastructures and Transports has recently developed a

new regulation, called “Decreto. N. 560, 1 December 2017”. This regulation’s goal is to stimulate the

implementation of BIM into Italian construction companies (Ministro delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti,

2017). These firms have few years to embrace the digital transition from CAD to BIM and not be excluded

from the construction market. However, in the Italian construction market, which has a tradition of decades

and differs from region to region (cultural and national aspect), there is not a wide knowledge regarding the

BIM topic yet. Moreover, Italian construction companies’ managers lack of the basic knowledge about BIM

implementation challenges, problems and the difficulties they might encounter while conducting the digital

transition from CAD to BIM in their companies.

Fig. 1. Problem mess.

A whole process of change management will be necessary in order to change the traditional way of working

(CAD), modify the traditional organizational structure of construction companies and implement BIM in the


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every-day working routine of firms. However, due to the relatively new regulation, Italian managers do not

know how to correctly and effectively carry out the process of digitalization into their company, because of

lack of knowledge or experience in a similar topic. A business strategy would be necessary in order to help

Italian construction companies’ managers to understand what is necessary, from a change management, ICT

and organizational structure’s perspective, to conduct the digitalization CAD-BIM . All the reasons above

mentioned, address to the general problem, which is a delay of the Italian construction sector in the digital

transition from CAD to BIM. A graphical overview of the problem mess can be found in Fig. 1.

2.1 Problem statement

The problem context can be summarized in one problem definition, which is defined as follows:

2.2 Research Objective

This research project is meant to produce good answers and solutions to the problem sketched. In order to

make that possible, the following research objective is derived from the problem definition:

2.3 Research questions

The research questions should be related to the research objective in order to translate a certain problem into

a need of information that has to be investigated. As a consequence, the research questions are followed by a

process of searching for specific information that can be used to solve the problem (Bougie et al., 2017). For

this specific case two main research questions can be identified. However, in order to solve the main

problem, the research questions need to be split up in sub-questions which divide the problem into its

different components.

The main questions are:

1. What are the challenges related to BIM implementation an Italian design firm might encounter?

2. What are the possible strategies and recommendations needed for an Italian design company to

overcome the challenges described, and to conduct the digital transition from CAD to BIM and

successfully implement BIM into its every-day working routine?

The sub-questions can be classified in:

1.1 What are the main challenges related to BIM implementation which can be found in the literature

and how can those be structure in a framework, which can be used for the case-study?

1.2 What is the current practice of BIM within an Italian design company (General Planning)?

1.3 What is the opinion of experts of the organization about the challenges they faced with when

implementing BIM?


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And:

2.1 What kind of recommendations can be provided to an Italian design firm to overcome the challenges

identified in q.1.2?

2.2 What kind of change management is it necessary in a design firm and what needs to be done from an

ICT perspective to facilitate and apply correctly the BIM methodology into Italian design

companies?

2.3 What is the sequence of actions which can be followed by an Italian design firm to correctly

implement BIM into its every-day working routine?

By answering to question 2, a BIM implementation roadmap will be developed by sequencing the actions to

be conducted when implementing BIM into an Italian design firm.

2.4 Discussion on relevance

This section aims to justify the relevance to conduct a research on this topic. First of all, as mentioned in the

previous sections, in the last years the theme of Digitalization in the construction industry has had a great

emphasis, as it can be seen from the large numbers of researchers about this topic. The digital transition from

CAD to BIM has been stimulated by the European Union, with the “Directive 2014/24/EU” as well as in the

respective EU countries such as in Italy with the Decreto. N. 560, 1 December 2017” regulation, aiming to

stimulate the implementation of BIM into Italian construction companies (Ministro delle Infrastrutture e dei

Trasporti, 2017). Because of the relatively new regulation, Italian managers do not know how to correctly

and effectively carry out the process of digitalization into their company, because of lack of knowledge or

experience in a similar topic. For this reason, this research aims to provide to practitioners, after analyzing

the problems and challenges related to BIM implementation in the Italian construction market, a practical

guide on which actions have to be followed by an Italian design firm to correctly implement BIM in a design

organization. The lack of knowledge and expertise about the topic in the Italian Construction market

provides relevance to the research and at the same time it opens the possibility of future researchers in the

same topic. Moreover, the practical need of a guideline on how to implement BIM in a design company can

be useful for practitioners and the Italian construction sector.

For all the reasons mentioned above, the research can be considered relevant for both theoretical and

practical purposes.


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3. Research Design

This section aims to describe the research design, which corresponds to the plan of a research study. In this

chapter a description of the research strategy, the data collection methods and the data analysis are provided

in order to solve the specific problem described in the previous section.

As it can be seen in Fig. 2, the research study can be divided into four main phases.

Phase 1 (Chapter 4) includes an overview of BIM implementation challenges, which can be found in the

literature, will be provided. In this phase the theoretical framework, which will be used to analyze the BIM

implementation challenges in the case-study, will be developed based on the literature review carried out

earlier in the project. Phases 2 (Chapter 5) and 3 (Chapter 6) are the core of the study with interviews, case-

study observation and literature study to answer respectively to the research questions. For this reason, a

specific paragraph is dedicated to the explanation of the data collection methods and structure of these two

phases. Finally Phase 4 (Chapter 7-8) ends the research with discussions, conclusions and recommendations

for future works.

In this research, a Design Science Research strategy will be used, because of the practical rather than

theoretical orientation of the research and its aim to find solutions for practical problems rather than develop

new theories. Design science research (DSR) have been used by various researchers in order to develop valid

knowledge and directly/indirectly support managers’ problem solving efforts. DSR is conceptualized as a

research strategy, aimed at knowledge that can be used in an instrumental way to design and implement

actions, processes or systems to achieve desired outcomes in practice. It is driven by field problems or

opportunities; instrumental knowledge is developed by deep engagement with real-life problems or

opportunities (Van Aken et al., 2016). This research strategy will help to find solutions to a practice-oriented

research which, According to Verschuren (2010), is characterized by the following stages:

• Problem identification (Chapter 2);

• Diagnosis of the causes (BIM implementation challenges in a design firm, Chapter 5 and 6);

• Design a plan (actions and recommendations for the transition CAD-BIM, BIM implementation

roadmap, Chapter 6);

• Intervention and monitoring of implementation;

• Evaluation of the result.

Considering the scope and the time constraint of this research project, it will not go further than creating

recommendations for an implementation plan and therefore will not reach the stages of monitoring and

evaluating the actual implementation process.

As stated by (Van Aken et al., 2016) a DSR project is typically driven by a type of field problem, or an

opportunity such as new Technology (in the research’s context the implementation of BIM within a firm). A

context is chosen where this problem is important (or the opportunity has potential) and where its

management and other stakeholders are prepared to engage with it in cooperation with researchers in order to

develop a solution (General Planning, case-study of the research). After an intake process an improvement

project is started. The problem, its context and causes are analyzed (BIM implementation problems and

challenges), a solution is designed (recommendations and actions on how effectively implement BIM).

The prescriptions in a design research follows the statement “If you want to achieve Y in situation Z, then

perform action X” (Van Aken, 2004), which can be translated into this research by assigning to the variable

Y the perfect situation of BIM usage within the firm, which allows the organization to get advantages from

its use, to Z the phase when BIM is implemented within the firm and to X the strategies and

recommendations which need to be followed in order to correctly implement BIM within an organization.

DSR focuses on improving the present and current situation and, to this extent, can be used to extend the

body of knowledge regarding organizations. Design science research has the following characteristics:

- research questions are driven by field problems (as opposed to pure knowledge problems);


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- there is an emphasis on solution-oriented knowledge, linking interventions or systems to

outcomes, as the key to solve field problems;

- the justification of research products is largely based on pragmatic validity (do the actions, based

on this knowledge indeed produce the intended outcomes?) (Van Aken and Romme, 2012).

DSR aims to improve, like also consultancy does (Van Aken et al., 2016). This research might be considered

as a consultancy for the selected case-study, aiming to provide practical solutions for the BIM

implementation process. However, consultancy aims to improve a local context through case-specific

designs, while academic research aims for generic knowledge that can be transferred to various contexts

within a specified application domain. For this reason the results of this research can be used by different

Italian construction companies which are facing with BIM implementation and the digitalization CAD-BIM

and are not only limited to the selected case-study.

Fig.2 Research Design

Phase 1 and 2 - BIM implementation challenges for an Italian design firm

Phase 1 (Chapter 4) and Phase 2 (Chapter 5) of the research aim to answer to the first main research

question, about what are the obstacles, problems and challenges the implementation of BIM in the Italian

market might encounter. To this purpose, as it can be seen in Figure 3, this phase of the research can be

divided into two sub-phases. During the first one, a literature review will be carried out to find information

about BIM implementation challenges and problems related to technology implementation and

organizational changes in a company who decides to implement BIM. At the end of this stage a theoretical

framework about BIM implementation challenges will be developed, which will be used in and an answer to


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first sub-question (1.1 in the research questions chapter) will be provided. The second sub-phase will regard

interviews to experts of the case-study, as well as a case-study observation for an organization which decided

to implement BIM into the every-day working practices (General Planning), in order to understand the level

of BIM adoption within the firm and the problems regarding BIM implementation the company had to faced

with. This second stage will answer to the second and third sub-questions (1.2 and 1.3 in the research

questions chapter, respectively). As a consequence, a comparison between the case-study results and the

challenges which came up from the literature will be provided, describing what are the differences which can

be found when comparing theory and practice.

A more accurate description of the data collection methods can be found in the following chapter (Chapter

3.1).

Fig. 3. Phase 1-2 – Research Design

Phase 3 – Actions and recommendations needed for an Italian construction company to overcome the

challenges described, and to conduct the digital transition from CAD to BIM and successfully implement BIM into its every-day working routine.

Phase 3 of the research (Chapter 6) will provide an answer to the second main research question of the study

on which actions and recommendations can be provided to an Italian design company to successfully

conduct the digital transition from CAD to BIM. During this phase, as it can be seen in Figure 4, interviews

with BIM implementation experts and a literature review will be carried out. A more accurate description of

the data collection methods can be found in the following chapter (Chapter 3.1). This two data collection

methods aim to answer to the three sub-questions about (2.1) the recommendations which can be provided

for an organization to overcome the challenges identified in q.1.2, (2.2) the change management in people,

organizations and ICT software adoption necessaries when implementing BIM in an Italian construction

firm, (2.3) the sequence of actions to be conducted by an Italian design firm when implementing BIM. By

answering to these questions, a BIM implementation roadmap will be developed by sequencing all the steps

previously pointed out, on which activities have to be conducted when implementing BIM.


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Fig. 4. Phase 3 – Research Design

3.1 Data collection methods

In this section an overview of the data collection methods, which will be used while conducting the research,

is provided. Four different data collection methods have been chosen in order to collect information and

answer to the research questions. Specifically, a literature review, interviews and a case-study observation

will be used to answer to the first main research question of the study, respectively the theory review is

necessary to understand what are the main BIM implementation challenges which can be found in the

literature and can be collected in a theoretical framework (1.1), while through the interviews within the

organization and the case-study observation the level of BIM adoption within the firm (1.2) and the problems

related to BIM implementation the company faced with (1.3) will be investigated. Moreover, interviews with

BIM implementation experts (external from the case-study) and a literature review will provide data about

what possible recommendations can be given to overcome the BIM implementation problems and challenges

the identified in the previous section and which emerged from the case-study observation (2.1), the change

management and ICT software necessaries to implement BIM in an Italian construction firm (2.2) and what

is a possible sequence of actions necessaries to implement BIM into the every-day working routine of an

Italian design firm (2.3). The collected data will be useful to develop a BIM implementation roadmap to be

used by other Italian design firm implementing BIM inside the organization.

Sampling

In this chapter, a description of the sampling method, which is relevant for the interviews, is mentioned.

According to Fowler (2014), sampling refers to the selection of a population representative of the whole

population. In this study the purposive sampling will be used. The purposive sampling technique, also called

judgment sampling, is a type of non-probability sampling that is most effective when one needs to study a

certain cultural domain with knowledgeable experts within. Purposive sampling may also be used with both

qualitative and quantitative research techniques (Dolores, 2007). With this nonrandom technique there is no

need to underline theories or a set number of informants, but the researcher can decide what needs to be

known and set out to find people who can and are willing to provide the information by virtue of knowledge

or experience (Lewis and Sheppard, 2006). While the case-study has been selected through the list of the best

Italian design firms and a direct contact to the human resources of the organization, BIM implementation

experts (external from the organization) are going to be selected via the app LinkedIn, through a private

message explaining the importance and aim of this research. Some BIM experts are professors of technical


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universities, such as Polytechnic of Turin and Polytechnic of Milan and can be contacted directly via the

academic email. Moreover, as stated by Dolores (2007), if a sample is representative, it becomes valid over

the domain it characterizes and there is no limit to the number of participants that could be made by a

sample.

Literature review

The first main source of data, will be through a literature study. In this phase, scientific papers, articles and

previous studies will be reviewed and analyzed to support and provide insights to the research. Particularly,

the literature study will provide an answer to the first sub-question, about the challenges related to BIM

implementation which can be found in the literature (1.1), in order to answer to the first main question about

what are the obstacles, challenges and problems the implementation of BIM in the Italian market might

encounter. The aim of this literature study is to develop a theoretical framework which is going to be used to

understand the BIM implementation challenges within the organization. Moreover, academic papers and

journals will be used as sources of information in Phase 3 of the research (Chapter 6), to provide

recommendations about how the identified challenges can be overcome.

Interviews

Semi-structured interviews will take place in phase 2 (Chapter 5) and 3 (Chapter 6) of the research. The

choice of semi-structured interviews instead of the traditional ones is due to the fact that this method enables

the respondents to add new insights, while in a classical interview the answers are limited in the framework

of the question (Cassell and Symon, 2004). In phase 2, interviews will be conducted with the employees of

General Planning in order to get data of what is the actual and desired BIM situation of the firm and what are

the BIM implementation challenges the firm is facing.

In phase 3 of the research, after the selection of respondents (via LinkedIn, as explained above) a specific

email will be sent to all the experts, with a presentation letter, goal of the study and why their participation is

important. Afterwards, the interviews will be made in person. Indeed, the problem of distance will be

overcome with a phase of data collection which will be held in Italy, specifically in Milan, where different

BIM experts have their own company. Moreover, with the availability of electronic instruments, such as

Skype, different Italian experts can might be interviewed, even the ones not resident in Milan.

In order to answer to the specific questions, the people to which the interview will be held should fit in one

of these categories:

- They should be BIM experts of the selected company, or directly involved in BIM implementation of the

company.

- They should come from different disciplines related to BIM (managers, architects, ICT expert etc).

- To provide recommendations, the respondents need to be BIM experts, researchers or Professors (of

Politecnico of Turin and Politecnico of Milan) involved in studies related to BIM implementation into Italian

construction companies;

- The respondents are working as digital transition managers to implement BIM into Italian construction

companies;

- The number of respondents chosen should be enough to collect information to answer to the first and

second main research question, but at the same time should be close enough to circumscribe the answers

given. Moreover, interviews will be conducted until a recommendation to all the BIM challenges will be

found.


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Case-study method

The selection of case study is an important instrument to provide rigor to the process and credibility in the

research findings. In Phase 2 of the research, a case-study will be used as an example of an Italian design

firm which conducted the process of digital transition from CAD to BIM. A case-study method is essential in

this phase of the research to get relevant data about what kind of BIM implementation challenges an Italian

design firm is facing. The case-study has to be a frontrunner for BIM implementation in the Italian

construction industry because the results of the research have to be considered an example for other Italian

design companies. The company, selected from the list of best Italian design firms, is General Planning Srl,

based in Milan, which decided to adopt BIM into its every-day working practices. General Planning is a

Company Leader in the Construction Engineering Design with an internal staff of 60 people including

Architects, Engineers and Technicians supported by Associated Firms and external collaborators making a

working group of about 100 professionals. General Planning, using the most advanced tools (including BIM)

and design method, provides services of: Integrated Coordinate Design, Construction Supervision, Project

and Construction Management. The company has contributed in the design and realization of different types

of buildings, such as: Office and Headquarters, Laboratories, Hospitals, Industrial buildings, Residential

buildings. The findings of this observation will provide data to answer to the first main research question of

the study. For this reason, interviews to BIM experts of the selected organization will provide an overview of

what kind of challenges the company encountered when implementing BIM into the organization. The

contact person of the firm, Alessandro Sandrelli, is a construction engineer who is actually working as a BIM

manager for General Planning, and is directly involved in all the BIM procedures of the firm. A clear

description of current BIM situation of the case-study will be provided in Chapter 6, when answering to the

sub-question 1.2.

3.2 Data analysis

The collected data from literature study, interviews and case-study will then be analyzed. The interviews will

be recorded via mobile phone, the recordings will be translated in paper and the most important information

from the interviews will be collected. The data will be gathered in a Word file, while an Iphone 7 will be

used for the recordings. Moreover, documents of the company will be analyzed as well to get information

about projects and about the firm in general. As mentioned above, the information provided by the

interviews within the case-study will be analyzed to answer to the first main research question (1), while

interviews to BIM experts (external from the organization) and a literature study will be used as a data

collection method for the second main research question. The results from either the interviews and literature

review will be then combined into the actions or recommendations which can be found in chapter 6.

Afterwards, based on the collected data during the research, a roadmap on how a generic design Italian

construction company should conduct the digital transition from CAD to BIM will be developed. The BIM

implementation roadmap will provide an answer to the second main research question of the study and

consequently will close the research.


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4. BIM Implementation Challenges

Appendix 1. Theoretical framework

This Chapter aims to collect all the challenges related to the adoption of BIM, by explaining the causes

which delay its implementation in a design firm. To this purpose, a literature review will be carried out. Four

different main groups of challenges emerge from the literature, specifically: environmental, organizational,

individual and technological challenges. These challenges will be combined in a framework and compared

with those which will come up from the analysis of the case-study, when implementing BIM in an Italian

construction firm (Appendix 1). Indeed, all the identified challenges are linked to the theories reviewed in

the previous section, and, when combined in a framework, they form the basis from which the challenges

related to BIM implementation of the selected case-study can be reviewed. By building up the theoretical

framework, an answer to the first sub-question of the research will be provided.

For convenience of the reader, Appendix 1 has been introduced in this chapter.

4.1 Environmental challenges

The first group of challenges, identified through a literature review, is related to the external condition of the

organization which might affect the BIM implementation process. Environmental challenges are those

barriers which do not depend directly to the organization but are external and out of its power. These

challenges can only be managed, avoided or influenced by a certain company, but are not generated by the

organization itself. The environmental context needs to be taken into account when implementing ICT in a

firm (Tornatzky et al., 1990). Specifically, four different environmental challenges have been identified to be

important when adopting BIM in a construction firm. Regulations and norms, common standards and

information exchange, BIM adoption in a national level and level of client’s request for the use of BIM will

be reviewed in the following sections.

4.1.1 Regulations and norms

The use of BIM can be mandated by public policies and national regulations. From an European point of

view, the Directive 2014/24/EU states “ For public works contracts and design contests, Member States may


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require the use of specific electronic tools, such as building information modeling tools or similar” (The

European Parliament, 2014). As a consequence, the main regulation’s goal is to stimulate public European

authorities to adopt and consider BIM for future national construction codes. From a national perspective,

regulations and norms can stimulate the adoption of BIM into the market, while from a construction

company’s perspective, the pressure which derives from the government might be seen as an environmental

challenge. When the use of BIM is mandated and is not a strategic management choice, its implementation

can be a difficult challenge to overcome in a short-time period. For this reason, the external pressure which

derives from regulations and norms regarding the adoption of BIM can be difficult to manage for an

organization. Even if BIM implementation in Europe has begun few years ago, with Norway, Sweden,

Finland (COBIM, 2012) and UK (AEC, BIM Technology Protocol, 2015) first countries to stimulate and

adopt BIM for public and private works, the European situation regarding BIM implementation norms and

regulations is not clear yet. For this reason, BIM implementation might be delayed in some countries, even if

several European governments are trying to stimulate and incentivize its adoption in a broader perspective. A

clearer overview of how regulations affect BIM implementation in Italy, and what are the main norms

concerning BIM adoption will be provided in Chapter 6.

4.1.2 Common standards and information exchange

Directly connected with regulations and norms, common standards need to be defined. Recently, several

countries are trying to develop common standards and regulations about information exchange. In the

construction sector, the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard is used to specify how the objects with

attributes can be classified. The use of a common standard helps to avoid problems of communication,

information exchange and to improve interoperability. A BIM model is a common digital space which allows

different stakeholders involved in the project (architects, structural engineers, MEP engineers etc.) to

collaborate in order to avoid clashes and design problems. Using IFC format enables all the different

disciplines which take part in a single project to have a unique standard, preventing problem of

interoperability and communication (Monteiro and Martins, 2013). This appears to be important especially in

multi-disciplinary projects, where different stakeholders need to collaborate with their specific competence

in the parametric model. The lack of common standards and regulations about information exchange is one

of the reasons why public governments are showing difficulties to promote the digital transition CAD-BIM

and, as a consequence, there are still several differences between the BIM maturity levels of different

European countries. Indeed, not all the European countries are showing the same level of BIM adoption,

promotion and use in the public and private sector, and this fact can be considered a consequence of either

the lack of regulations and common standards which align BIM use at a national and international level. For

this reason, construction companies see in the lack of common standards one of the challenges which affect

the implementation of BIM in a firm.

4.1.3 BIM adoption in a national level

The level of BIM adoption in a specific country is the third identified environmental challenge. In an

historical period characterized by the spread of digitalization and Industry 4.0, ICT adoption in a

construction company can be seen as the only way to keep a spot in the future market. However, there is still

great uncertainty in several construction countries about the contributes BIM might have and how to deal

with the digitalization process from CAD to BIM. The level of BIM adoption differs from country to country

and even within the same country the differences between the maturity level of companies appear to be

evident. Without knowledge about BIM advantages and benefits, the real use of BIM cannot be understood

by managers and clients. The requirement of BIM in a market where only few companies implemented it,

may result in limiting the pool of potential bidders and, as a consequence, it may lead to an increase in the

project’s price. As explained in the theory of diffusion for an innovation, with the S-curve, the adoption of


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technology in a market is divided into different phases, and the first adopters, if it is the right period for the

innovation’s adoption, can take the best advantages from it. The implementation of BIM in a certain market

follows the same rules, and a construction company needs to understand which is the best moment to

implement BIM into the organization. According to Rogers (1995), surveys can be considered a relevant

instrument to analyze the situation regarding the level of BIM adoption in a specific market.

4.1.4 Level of client’s request for the use of BIM

The spread of BIM in a market, depends on the level of client’s request for the use of BIM. If clients are

aware about BIM advantages, benefits and what might be the advantages in a certain project, they can be

more convinced to request it more frequently. The lack of request about BIM from clients represents the

fourth identified environmental challenges (Eastman et al., 2011). From a construction company’s

perspective, the requesting use of BIM by a client is seen as more as a challenge rather than a strategic

decision, and it might occur that the organization is not ready or does not have the capabilities required to

implement BIM. A client’s request for the use of BIM in projects, especially in a country where BIM

implementation has not reached an advanced level yet, can be felt as an external pressure for a company.

Fig. 5. Environmental challenges.

4.2 Organizational challenges

The second group of BIM implementation challenges regards the organization, and how it reacts with a

change in the common processes and routines when adopting innovation within the firm. In contrast with the

environmental challenges, which do not depend directly to the company but are out of its power,

organizational challenges can be overcome by the company itself, through a long-term vision of BIM

benefits, a change in the working-practices and the creation of a new business model according to the

necessities of the new processes with BIM. Several organizational challenges can be found in the literature

and have to be taken into account when implementing BIM into a firm. Organizational challenges can be

clustered into four main groups. The first two issues are related to the investment, in terms of cost and time,

which has to be considered relevant when deciding to implement BIM (Chapters 4.2.1 and 4.2.2). Secondly,

the strategy of the firm has been analyzed with the changes in the organizational structure, top management

support and the re-definition of the business model (Chapters 4.2.3, 4.2.4 and 4.2.5). The third group of

challenges relates to the change of responsibilities and data exchange inside the firm, emphasizing the

importance of assign responsibilities for BIM implementation and re-organize the teams (Chapters 4.2.6,

4.2.7 and 4.2.8).Lastly, the fourth group of organizational challenges refers to the collaborative way of

working, change in the contracts and promotion of the BIM capacity of a firm (Chapters 4.2.9, 4.2.10 and

4.2.11). A description of the above-mentioned BIM implementation organizational challenges is provided in

this chapter, while in Chapter 5 an analysis of which of these challenges affect the case-study will be

provided.


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4.2.1 Time necessary to adopt the new processes

The implementation of BIM is usually seen as a complex and time-consuming process, which is

accompanied with a learning process. BIM implementation benefits might not be seen immediately. In fact,

especially in the first phases of the adoption, BIM can be seen as an obstacle more than a resource, and the

challenges can be more than the benefits. A certain amount of time is necessary to effectively implement

BIM into a company (Eastman et al., 2011). The delay in terms of time is caused not only by trainings and

lack of skills, but it is a consequence of all the new procedures which need to be set-up internally for a

construction company to conduct the digital transition CAD-BIM. The IDT theory provides an explanation

about the factors which affect the timing of innovation adoption described in Rogers’ five stages (Rogers,

1995). Normally a company, when facing the digital transition, keeps the traditional way of working for a

determined period of time, working at the same time with BIM in other projects. Interesting examples will be

given in Chapter 5 by the case-study (General Planning) and how the design company faced the

digitalization, especially in the first projects. In order to overcome this challenge, a new long-term strategic

vision in the company needs to be built. All the possible recommendations about these challenges will be

provided in Chapter 6.

4.2.2 High initial investment

BIM implementation is also a complex and costly process. When trying to utilize BIM initially, companies

will have to invest in software, hardware and training of their employees. Moreover, a change in system

configuration, library and procedures will be necessary when adopting BIM. All these costs can be

considered as the initial investment necessary to conduct the digitalization process and implement BIM into

the everyday working routine of the company. The high initial costs may serve as a hindrance to implement

BIM, especially when the long-term benefits are not taken into consideration. For smaller companies, the

initial investment might be too high although they are aware of the long-term benefits of the application of

BIM. Another thought belonging to this barrier is the fact that some projects are perceived too small, to

achieve the full benefits of the implementation of BIM. High investment costs accompanied with little to no

added value also serve as a hindrance to implement BIM. From the outset, the development of BIM and

inquiry into its costs/benefits have been inextricably linked (Lu et al., 2014). In BIM adoption, researchers

have shown that one of the major hurdles is justification of the additional cost using evident benefits (Li&

Huang, 2009). Users who are to adopt BIM need the encouragement of empirical evidence, while investors

need to discern clear proof of its benefits in order to justify their investment of time and budget (Peng et al.,

2013).

4.2.3 Organizational structure and strategy

In order to exploit the full benefits of BIM, companies must utilize an organizational structure and strategy

that facilitates the implementation of BIM. However, several organizational issues that hamper the successful

implementation of BIM can be identified, such as professional liability, process problems, and trust. A new

organizational structure and vision of the company needs to be set up in order to achieve the goals in a

medium-long term. During the implementation process a strong base of consensual organizational vision

towards its intentions with the new technology is important, and the goals need to be set with a strategy to

achieve them (Smith et al., 2009). When implementing BIM, it is fundamental to have a clear idea of what

are the goals set for the upcoming years, and, according to those, the organization can decide which is the

best path to follow in order to achieve it. The creation of an effective organizational structure and a future

vision towards BIM benefits and uses can be seen as a challenge for construction firms. In order to overcome


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it, some guidelines can be developed and a BIM implementation plan needs to be developed at the beginning

of a BIM project, as it will be explained in the recommendations chapter (Chapter 6).

4.2.4 Top management support

The support of the management team is one of the most important drivers when implementing technology in

a company. The implementation of BIM is a process which requires action and strategic decisions need to be

undertaken to adopt the new methodology. For this reason, BIM adoption can be seen as a top management’s

decision. Senior managers are often reluctant to introduce new technologies and processes to the

organization, while management support for BIM implementation is essential (Liu et al, 2015). Without the

necessary support or with a wrong allocation of resources and strategic choices, the BIM implementation

process may fail, delay or can cost much effort and money. For these reasons the management team need to

have a clear idea of what are the BIM implementation goals and how to achieve them. An example of how

the management team influenced BIM adoption within a firm, will be provided during the case-study

(Chapter 5).

4.2.5 Re-define the business model

One of the organizational issues which a company encounters while implementing BIM into the

organization, is related to a change in the way the firm’s business is structured. In order to create value, a

company needs to adapt the business model according to the new implemented technology. The old business

model used by a company, can never automatically provide benefits, if not translated and modified according

to the necessities and practices related to BIM. For this reason, the business model has to be adapted, in order

to incorporate the advantages of the implemented technology and, as a consequence, generate value. The

challenge in this case, is related to what kind of business model can be considered adequate when

implementing BIM. As it can be seen from the Mc-Leamy curve (Lu et al., 2014), the use of BIM changes

and anticipates the design in the earliest phases of a project and consequently, a new way of working will

provide different services to the customers. The problem is to understand how much customers are willing to

pay, especially in projects where BIM is not mandated, to benefit of all the advantages BIM can provide in a

project. The firm’s business model needs to be re-structured by considering all the different advantages the

use of BIM has in terms of costs, time and customers’ satisfaction.

4.2.6 Assign responsibilities for BIM implementation

BIM implementation, after the decision and the approval from the top management team of proceeding with

it, is a process which requires action. The dynamics regarding BIM adoption may be outside the knowledge

and competences of the top management team and for this reason an ongoing negotiation process is

necessary. BIM implementation’s responsibility has to be assigned to a specific group of people, internal

(BIM implementation experts) or external (BIM implementation consultants), in order to facilitate the digital

transition. This leads to concentration of interest and knowledge to a specific group, while the rest of the

team will continue with the every-day practices. According to Jones (2011), this person, or group of people,

who have the responsibility for the BIM adoption, can act as a BIM champion in the implementation process.

The need of assigning this important role to a specific group, internal or external, can be seen as a challenge

regarding BIM implementation, and it may happen that, if the implementation process is not led by a certain

group or person, the rate of failure is higher.


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4.2.7 Re-organization of teams

Conducting the digital transition from the traditional way of working (CAD) to the BIM methodology for a

construction firm means a change in the repartition of team members and the creation of new roles within the

firm. New skills and BIM knowledge are necessary to perfectly adopt the new way of working. Not only

designers but new professional figures are required, such as the BIM manager, and in most of the cases the

creation of a new department specialized in BIM can help to facilitate the use of BIM in the company.

Particularly, a new organizational culture needs to be developed within the firm, and the roles need to be

defined according to it (Underwood et al., 2010). This re-organization of the company requires time and is

coats, and for this reason can be considered one of the organizational challenges regarding BIM

implementation. Moreover, it is clearly affected by the competences the market can offer in term of

knowledge and skills and, at the same time, by the level of BIM adoption in a country level. The case study

of General Planning can be an interesting example on what are the challenges a design company has to face

with, in terms of re-organization of teams and new roles during the digital transition to BIM. All the possible

recommendations on how to overcome those challenges in a practical way will be provided in Chapter 6.

4.2.8 Data exchange within the firm

As mentioned earlier, BIM implementation requires a change in the way procedures within a firm are

conducted. With the traditional way of working, files are exchanged as “DWG” as AutoCAD drawings with

all the information stored in PDF, Word or Excel sheets. BIM literally changes this way of working with a

share environment where all the information are stored in a parametric model, and all the different

stakeholders can work at the same time, on the same project, from different places (Eastman et al., 2011).

This means that Data exchange methods need to be adapted according to the new required procedures. This

challenge is directly connected to the development of a collaborative way of working, because information

and data are exchanged and shared in a different way when using BIM in a project. The case-study will

provide insights on how data are exchanged in a design company who decided to implement BIM. Moreover,

due to the large size of BIM files, files have to be stored in an appropriate database, which can be considered

a technological challenge (Chapter 4.4).

4.2.9 Developing a collaborative way of working

Collaboration is the key-word when using BIM. In a BIM project all the stakeholders and team members

collaborate in the same model, sharing information and working in the a shared virtual environment. This

fact completely changes the traditional way of working, where, with a lack of collaboration, mistakes are

easy to be made. Using IFC format enables all the different disciplines which take part in a single project to

have a unique standard, preventing problem of interoperability and communication (Monteiro and Martins,

2013). This appears to be important especially in multi-disciplinary projects, where different stakeholders

need to collaborate with their specific competence in the parametric model. A collaborative way of working

needs to be developed by all the employees of a construction firm in order to prevent misunderstandings and

create the best conditions to work with BIM. Interoperability is also a challenge related to collaboration,

which will be analyzed in the technological issues. For these reasons, establishing a collaborative mindset,

and learning how to approach the new collaborative way of working will be necessary for team members of a

company which decides to implement BIM.


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4.2.10 Promotion of the company’s BIM capacity

Due to the high level of competition in the construction sector, having good BIM capacity does not mean a

direct advantage in the market. The company, after a first period dedicated to the implementation of BIM,

needs to be able “to sell” its BIM capabilities to clients and customers. For this reason, a secondary step will

be the promotion and marketing of the company’s BIM capabilities, by sharing to the market an idea of BIM

as part of the firm’s brand, philosophy and DNA (Joseph, 2012). Most of the companies, when implementing

BIM, focus only on the internal changes, underestimating the importance of a good marketing campaign

about the company’s use of BIM in construction projects. Informing a client about the previous uses of BIM

in certain projects, can give the company advantages to get the contract, while final users can be informed

about the advantages derived from the use of BIM, especially in the maintenance phase. Hence, the

development of marketing and promotion of the company’s BIM capacity needs to be considered an

important factor after the implementation of BIM.

4.2.11 Contract change arrangements and costs

As explained earlier, the use of BIM in a project changes the way information are shared and workflows are

set up. With a change in collaboration, the traditional contractual arrangements between different parties

need to be modified by sharing responsibilities and risks to all the stakeholders involved in a project. The

challenge which emerges here, is related to the development of knowledge and experience to the people

responsible for contractual arrangements, and the time necessary to change the contracts according to the

new processes with BIM. Moreover, a cost is would be essential, to re-structure all the contracts and to train

the contractual experts of the team (Eastman et al., 2011). The time required to adapt the contracts to the new

methodology is also part of the challenge and needs to be avoided. More information about the contractual

arrangements in the Italian construction market will be provided while analyzing the case-study (Chapter 6).

Fig. 6. Organizational challenges.

4.3 Individual challenges

The third group of challenges regard those which affect the individuals. To this extent, the theory of

Adriaanse provides a clear overview on how personal and external motivation are important factors for

individuals when implementing ICT in a company. Individuals compose teams, groups and each member’s

positive attitude towards change is fundamental when implementing BIM in a company. The team should

have common goals, motivation, ability to collaborate, trust and the skills which are fundamental for the new

practices. Moreover, the cultural aspects need to be taken into account when adopting technology and this


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aspect is difficult to monitor, especially because of the differences from region to region and country to

country. Figure 7 describes all the identified individual challenges.

4.3.1 Cultural aspect

Culture expresses the social ideals, values and beliefs that members of an organization come to share (Louis,

1980). Culture can have powerful consequences on individuals and organizations’ performance. It can be

defined as “a pattern of basic assumptions, invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns

to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration” (Schein, 1986). Organizational

culture thus serves the leader of an organization through nurturing the value system created by him to both

serving and incoming members. Organizational culture might be examined by the employees’ capability to

identify and accomplish the company goals and the level of awareness of employers in recognizing and

rewarding good performance of employees (Cheung et al., 2010). Culture might be a challenge regarding

BIM implementation, to the extent that for culture reason individuals of an organization do not want to

change the way they are working or are not willing to embrace change. To this extend, the cultural aspect

here refers to the way people work and are used to work inside an organization. The cultural aspect is

difficult to measure because it depends from lots of factors, some of which are impossible to gather. At the

same time, the cultural aspect needs to be considered important when analyzing the situation regarding BIM

implementation inside the Italian construction sector, because of the traditional way of working

characterizing the Italian construction sector. For this reason, culture has to be considered when

implementing BIM inside an Italian design firm.

4.3.2 Individual drive towards change

Directly connected with culture is the individual drive towards change. It refers to the ability individuals of

an organization have, to change their way of working, by adapting it to the new methodologies required after

ICT implementation (Partridge, 2007). This challenge, when implementing BIM into a construction firm, can

be translated into the ability of individuals to embrace change, by adopting the new way of working, with

BIM, overcoming the traditional way of working (CAD) they were used to adopt. The reason why this

challenge is difficult to overcome, reflect to the “fear” people have towards change, and their preference to

keep on working in the same way during the years. The psychological reason of this fear will not

investigated by this research, but, at the same time, is important to consider this challenge when

implementing BIM. The individual resistance towards change is difficult to measure because of it

psychological nature, but some recommendations can be provided on how can managers stimulate team

members to adopt a positive attitude towards change (Chapter 6).

4.3.3 Knowledge and skills

The lack of knowledge and skills is perceived to be one of the main barriers to the implementation of BIM.

BIM implementation itself requires knowledge and competences regarding several IT and software

applications. However, there is quite some ambiguity regarding what BIM is and what it actually involves

and many companies lack the competences to implement and use BIM. The lack of BIM professionals is

usually due to a lack of inadequate training and education (Liu et al, 2015). When implementing BIM, new

skills are required for the employees and the knowledge of software applications, new processes and data

exchange methods are required by the companies. At the same time, it may happen that the labor market is

not ready yet to provide all these experts and people with knowledge regarding BIM methods. For the

reasons mentioned above, the lack of knowledge and skills can be considered one of the individual

challenges which affect BIM implementation in a company.


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Fig. 7. Individual challenges.

4.4 Technological challenges

The last group of presented challenges, regards those related to the technology itself and the consequences to

its implementation in a firm. Technological (or innovation) challenges, are a consequence of BIM’s adoption

from a technological and technical point of view. Several problems come up when implementing BIM within

a firm, such as interoperability between the different software, the current IT infrastructure support which

may be insufficient to sustain the innovation and the scalability of BIM models. All these challenges are

explained below. Figure 8 summarizes the technological challenges.

4.4.1 Interoperability

BIM interoperability issues are also part of the strategic problems that AEC-FM companies face. This is

principally due to problems of incompatibility with the information representation adopted by the software

applications different disciplines are working with (Jardim-Goncalves, 2010).In a construction project,

suppliers use different software BIM 3D softwares, such as Tekla and Bentley to build their aspect models,

while architects use other softwares such as Revit, etc. In order to facilitate the integration of different

aspects models (per discipline) and solve interoperability issues, the models are usually transferred into IFC.

In the construction sector, the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard is used to specify how the objects

with attributes can be classified. The use of a common standard helps to avoid problems of communication,

information exchange and to improve interoperability. However, this downgrades the information stored in

the initial model and hampers collaboration between disciplines within the construction industry. The issue

of interoperability might affect the collaboration between construction companies, because of the different

standards used or because of misunderstandings and lack of communication between different disciplines.

4.4.2 Current IT infrastructure support

Before implementing BIM, a company uses a certain IT structure for all its projects. Consequently to BIM

implementation, an organization needs to replace the current IT infrastructure support with the one required

to allow the BIM cloud sharing and in order to have a high IT memory requirements for large and complex

models. In most implementation cases has been revealed that the costs of adapting these systems are

generally consistently lower than the one required to train staff and reach a good proficiency level of BIM.

(Eastman, et al., 2011). The adoption of a more structured IT infrastructure support can be seen as a

technological challenge, which many companies face with difficulties, and may require an external support

in order to be implemented. For this reason, due to the large size of files and the amount of digital

information shared, the implementation of BIM needs an IT structure powerful enough to support it.

4.4.3 Scalability of BIM models

The size of a BIM model depends on the accuracy and the level of detail the internal representations and

parametric objects can have. Normally, due to a high level of detail, BIM models can have a really large size

and for this reason there might be a slow response in terms of time for working on the model. The problem


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which comes up is related to the memory for all the operations connected with BIM software, which is not

large enough, so BIM projects need to be scaled. According to Underwood (2010), the file-based systems are

normally slower for small projects, but their speed decreases very slow in accordance to the project size

growth. The issue of scalability of BIM models can be considered the third technological challenge a

company has to face with when implementing BIM.

Fig. 8. Technological challenges.


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5 A case-study approach – General Planning

While in the previous section a theoretical framework about the different challenges related to BIM

implementation was developed, this Chapter aims to investigate, through a case-study, what are the practical

BIM implementation challenges which an Italian design firm encountered when conducting the digital

transition CAD-BIM. The company, General Planning Spa (GP), has recently started implementing BIM

into the business processes and is currently facing several problems caused by the digitalization process. For

this reason, it can be considered a perfect example of an Italian design firm as admitted by Loris Colombo

himself, technical director of the firm.

5.1 Introduction

Founded in 1970 as the development and evolution of the Architecture & Fritz Batello Studio, General

Planning is an Italian leading company of Engineering, Consulting and Design with over 40 years of

experience in the implementation of major projects in many sectors (Corporate offices, Banks, Hospitals,

Commerce, Industry, etc..). With an internal staff of 60 people including Architects, Engineers, and

Technicians supported by Associated firms and external collaborators (up to 100 professionals in total),

General Planning uses the most advanced tools available in the market and design methods in order to

provide services of Integrated Coordinate Design, Construction Supervision, Project and Construction

Management, working in different areas such as Offices, Laboratories, Hospitals, Space Planning, Industrial

buildings, Corporate services and Residential buildings.

The company’s goal is to achieve client loyalty providing a full consulting services and guided assistance in

choosing the best solution, by being the only responsible interlocutor for the entire project. In order to

achieve client’s satisfaction, General Planning uses a method based on Integration and Organization of the

whole project by constantly checking costs and times estimated. At the beginning of the definition of the

intervention, General Planning acts as trustee consultant of the client providing administrative, final and

executive design, integrating and coordinating the different technical specialties (architecture, structural

works, installation works, equipment), assisting the Customer in the management of the procurement phase

and directing the project execution from complete project management activities, general and specialized

supervision works, time and cost control, to the handing over and the work testing. Finally, General Planning

was the twelfth Italian design company by revenue in 2016.

An overview of the company’s working methodology can be found in Fig. 9 below.

Fig. 9.General Planning working methodology, Integrated and coordinated design and Project management.


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This case-study aims to either analyze the current BIM situation and design practices of the company, with a

focus on the Design (CAD-BIM) Department, as it can be seen in the organizational chart (Appendix 2), and

at the same time to find out what is the expected situation regarding the use BIM within the company in the

next years. Moreover, General Planning can be considered a frontrunner in the adoption of BIM when

comparing to the actual situation of the Italian construction market and for this reason the BIM

implementation challenges of this case-study can be considered relevant and are mostly the same which other

Italian design firms are facing or will face when implementing BIM within the organization.

General Planning’s organizational structure can be divided into four main departments (Administration and

financial control, human resources, engineering/design and Promotion/business development). The

engineering department can be divided into: structures, installations, safety, architecture, project

management and design (CAD-BIM). Particularly, as mentioned above, the focus was on the last mentioned

sub-department, which is facing and is directly involved in the process of digitalization. However, other

departments have been analyzed and different employees of the company have been interviewed in order to

get a wider perspective of the available information at the company level. To this extend, the IT and cost

management department were involved in the data collection phase of this research. Finally, the technical

director himself, gave an important contribute to analyze the BIM implementation challenges from a

management perspective.

The case-study has been used to answer to these sub-questions of the research:

1.2 What is the current and desired practice of BIM within an Italian design organization?


implementing BIM?

The case-study structure can be divided into three main steps:

1. Actual design practices and BIM maturity level of the firm.

2. Desired BIM maturity level and company’s BIM vision.

3. BIM implementation challenges within the organization.

The identified BIM implementation challenges can be considered as an example of what are the possible

issues which can be encountered when an Italian design firm decides to implement BIM within its

organization.

5.2Methodology

Two data collection methods were used for this research. The first data collection took place by conducting

semi-structured interviews with employees, BIM managers, IT experts and directors of General Planning. In

total more than 10 interviews were conducted, covering all the different topics which might help for the final

result. The choice of conducting semi-structured interviews rather than classic ones, is given by the flexile

structure of questions which might be asked with semi-structured interviews. In fact, while fixed questions

aim to provide a direct answer to a specific topic, semi-structured interviews encourage the respondents to

express their opinion, knowledge and opinion in a broader context, without a fixed scheme. For this reason, a

large amount of information is gathered by letting the respondents free to express their opinion about the

BIM implementation process within the company. The second half of data was gathered by conducting an

on-site observation of the company, the way people work and how is the employees’ approach when a BIM

project has to be managed. The data collection took place in the period of June-August 2018.

The fixed part of the interview consists in the following questions:

1. Role and responsibilities. What is your role within the firm?


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The answers to this question provides an overview of the different roles the respondents have within

the firm, in what kind of projects they are involved and what is their daily working contribute for

General Planning.

2. Company. What are the general characteristics of the firm? (The question was asked only three

times, in order to avoid repetitions).

Information such as the history, markets and general development of the firm are important to

understand the context the firm is involved in a national level.

Do you think General Planning is representative for the Italian construction sector or a

frontrunner? Why?

When implementing BIM, it is important to know the level of technological adoption and the

position of the firm within the national construction market. Being a frontrunner means being one of

the first firms involved in the implementation of BIM and as a consequence experiencing the

challenges which derive from its adoption within an organization.

3. Current BIM situation. Why and when did the company decide to introduce BIM into the practices?

In order to understand the current level of BIM adoption, it is important to get information about the

first steps conducted when BIM was implemented within the firm, the decision which were made

and when was it introduced in the ever-day practices.

What is the current situation regarding designing practices (or the use of BIM) within your

team/department/division?

A direct question about the current design practices provides a starting point on how the actual level

of BIM adoption within the analyzed departments of the company is.

4. Desired BIM situation. What is the desired situation regarding the use of BIM within your


General Planning BIM maturity level’s goal can be investigated with a question about the desired

level of BIM in each of the departments and teams the respondents are part of.

Is it there a consensual opinion formed around these intentions?

Active motivation when implementing BIM plays a fundamental role. For this reason, this question

aims to understand if it is there a consensual path to be followed and if all the actors agree in the

decision-making process.

What kind of benefits are expected from implementing and using BIM?

This question aims to understand why BIM was implemented, what are the final goals and what kind

of benefits are expected by its use in the next years in terms of costs, time, productivity, quality etc.

5. BIM implementation challenges. What are the most important BIM implementation challenges

playing by the firm?

While the theoretical framework is shown, it is important to know all the challenges and issues the

company encountered when implementing BIM. By keeping this question open, other issues can

emerge, even those which are specific for the case-study.

What is the importance and how do these challenges affect the implementation process?

The answer to this question provides a level of impact, based on the respondents’ opinion, of how

and to which extend these challenges affected the implementation process.

The interviews were recorded with mobile phones and listened again to write all the data in a word file.

Afterwards, the data was analyzed to get the most important information for the case-study, and all the

relevant information was reported into a separate file and grouped up in order to form the following BIM

implementation challenges of the firm. A more detailed description of the research questions can be found in

Appendix 4.

A list of the interviewed people is provided below (Table 10), with a description of the role and department

as well. The number of individual interviews is provided, while two other interviews were conducted with

two or more members of the list together.


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Name Role Department N. of interviews

A. Sandrelli

BIM manager CAD/BIM 2

L. Colombo

Technical director head of engineering

1

S. Versini BIM coordinator CAD/BIM 1

P. Facchetti

BIM specialist CAD/BIM 1

M. Codini IT support IT 1

Walter Cola

Head of CM cost management 1

A. Cristaldi

Quantity surveyor cost management 1

E. Guasti Quantity surveyor cost management 1

S. Toini MEP designer installations 1

Table 10. Respondents’ role, department and number of interviews.

5.3 BIM implementation history and actual BIM situation

The data collection started conducting interviews with the BIM manager of the company (2 years of

experience within the firm), a BIM coordinator (few months of experience within the company) and a BIM

specialist (with 20 years of experience in GP). The information gathered, were used as a starting point to

understand the actual BIM maturity level of the firm, as well as the ambition and BIM goals for the next

years. According to the BIM maturity model, which can be found in Fig. 11, there are several characteristics

which need to be satisfied in order to assess the level of BIM capabilities for a design company. A managed

3D environment with an integration of all the combined models from all the different disciplines, as well as a

link of the model to the project data and relevant software capabilities are necessaries to assess the BIM

maturity level for either a company or a specific project.

General Planning started the first internal courses of BIM software about 5 years ago (2013). At the

beginning, five members of the design team followed a BIM course about software and methodology. In

2014, the first pilot project, a small industrial building, was developed but without information, just as a 3D

model. The real first BIM project was the Telecom Headquarter in Rome, in which external consultants

helped GP with all the different and complex installations of the project. The first BIM project realized only

by GP was the IEO hospital of Milan, third building. In this phase both CAD and BIM were used for

different projects, and there was no BIM department into the company. Since mid-2017 all new projects of a

certain dimension are in BIM (excluding small re-works previously done in CAD and with DWG file in the

internal database). The BIM process management part started with hiring a BIM manager (Alessandro

Sandrelli) in 2016 and later on two BIM coordinator with few more BIM specialists. In the same period, the

model started to be used for quantities take-off and cost calculations (beginning of 2017). An overview of the

most important steps regarding BIM implementation inside GP is provided in Appendix 3.

General Planning has a royal relationship with its clients, which are followed from the beginning till the end

of each project. The company takes part in the maintenance phase because of the relationship built up with

clients over the time. It may happen that clients ask for BIM, but since 2018 GP writes in the preliminary

contract a document about the characteristics of the BIM model delivered. If requirements are not given,

(BEP without EIR), the requirements of the client are predicted by GP.

Among all the disciplines, GP’s BIM maturity level is between 1 and 2, as it is shown in Fig. 8.

Architectural, Structural and MEP models are made with BIM till 1:50 level of detail. Precise and difficult

details are still done with CAD because of their complexness and people do not have enough capabilities to


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deal with them. Stratigraphies are trying to be imported in Revit. Moreover, steel details are made with CAD,

even if the company is trying to go in deep about their design with Revit. MEP components are standards,

not really detailed. These components are without brand and already exist in the market, no technical

characteristics for MEP are in Revit, but in Word and in the contracts. Specialized Analysis is made with

other software not with BIM. The energy calculations is made with other software and not using BIM.

Finally costs calculations are either made via quantity take-off and Excel sheets. STR Vision software is not

completely in the current practice of the cost management department, because of a less controlled quantities

than what can be done in Excel, and because of a structured way of working for 20 years of the cost

management department.

Even if BIM is used for different reasons and purposes, CAD is still important within the firm. For this

reason, a BIM maturity level between 1 and 2 can be assessed in this stage of the digital transition to BIM.

Fig. 11. Actual BIM maturity level.

5.4Desired BIM situation

When understanding what the actual BIM maturity level of the company is, it appears to be clear the

importance of defining what is the goal in terms of BIM implementation for the next years. To this extend,

interviews with the BIM manager and the Technical director were fundamental to understand the top

management’s vision and the company’s ambition regarding future uses of BIM.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, GP started few years ago a process of internal training for five

members of the design team about BIM software (such as Revit) and general BIM uses. However, not all the

employees have a knowledge of software and processes related to BIM, so the average level of knowledge

within the firm differs. In order to solve this issue, the company started in June 2018 weekly internal BIM

courses, regarding the general BIM uses, BIM-related software and how those uses can be applied to the

specific context of General Planning. To this purpose, the first short-term goal is leveraging the company’s

global knowledge of BIM, in order to create a common vision. According to the BIM manger’s prevision,

this resource leveling needs to be done before September 2018.

Secondly, some operational goals are planned to be reached in the short-midterm. The first operational goal,

regards the structural calculation of the models which is not actually made with BIM. GP wants to entirely

calculate the structural elements by using the BIM model and, to reach this goal, an effort will be made in the

next months. The second goal regards the use of Visio software for cost calculation. Nowadays the cost


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management department is managing the cost calculation either using Excel sheets and with the quantity

take-off from the model. The goal is to use Visio for those calculations, without verifying the quantities and,

as a consequence, lees time will be wasted. The third goal regards the creation of templates in Revit, which

can be used for all the different facilities (hospitals, offices, residential buildings etc.) GP has an expertise

on. Those templates, once created, reduce time consumption when starting a BIM project.

Lastly, some long-term goals emerged during the interviews with the BIM manager. The first one, is the use

of Virtual Reality (VR) for clients. VR helps clients to understand with a direct visualization, how the project

will be and is a great advantage from a marketing point of view. Secondly, in the next months GP aims to

develop a common and shared data environment, in order to collect and manage information in the same

BIM workplace, which can be used from different disciplines, locations and companies, at the same time.

The third long-term goal, is the use of BIM for constructability, with Navisworks. The project management

department of the company admitted that BIM has not been used yet for constructability, because of the lack

of client’s request. However, even if these goals are planned to be followed, the company does not have a

clear idea yet about when the might be reached.

Short-term BIM goals Long-term BIM goals

Leveraging the company’s

global knowledge of BIM Use of Virtual reality (VR) for clients

Structural calculation with

BIM Develop a common and shared data environment

Visio software for cost calculation

Use of BIM for constructability

Creation of Revit templates

Table 12. GP short and long-term BIM goals.

To sum up, GP’s main goal is to move forward in the BIM maturity model, from a level between 1 and 2 to

full level 2, as it can be seen in Fig. 13. To this extend, a more collaborative way of working needs to be

developed and a wider BIM knowledge has to be acquired by all the employees. However, even if the

company’s BIM goal is well expressed, is not clear yet when the BIM maturity level 2 can be reached.

Fig 13. Desired BIM maturity level.


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5.5 BIM implementation challenges

After analyzing the current and desired BIM maturity level of the company, the study goes further with an

explanation of the BIM implementation challenges which GP is facing during the digital transition CAD-

BIM. The theoretical framework was fundamental in this phase of the research for two reasons. First of all, it

was used during the interview process, proving the respondents an example of which challenges were

addressed by other design organizations which can be found in the literature. During the interviews, the

respondents used the framework as a reference structure, however the challenges which came out (which can

be found in the previous chapter) are more specific, adapted to the specific situation of the firm. The

comparison between the challenges which came out from the literature and the case-study is provided as well

in chapter 5.7. Moreover, as mentioned above, the structure of the theoretical framework constitutes a base

for the identified challenges, which are still divided into environmental, technological, individual and

organizational.

The identified issues have been organized into twelve challenges which can be connected to the challenges

discovered via literature review. An example from the current (or past) practice of the case-study will be

provided, when available.

Fig 14. Phases followed in this part of the research, for chapters 5.5 and 5.6.

As it can be seen in Figure 14, this part of the research can be divided in two main phases. In the first phase

(What), the challenges which came up from the case-study will be described (Chapter 5.5.1). The second

phase can be considered a link between theory and practice, providing the “Why” the challenges which

emerged from the case-study differ or are the same from those which emerged from the theoretical

framework previously build up (Chapter 5.6).

5.5.1 Identified challenges

As mentioned above, twelve BIM implementation challenges emerged from the interviews within the

company. This paragraph will describe the issues GP faced when implementing BIM. Figure 15 summarizes

which challenges of the theoretical framework emerged from the case-study. The symbol “V” means the

challenge of the theoretical framework is present in the case-study, the “X” means the challenge did not

emerge during the case-study observation, while the “~” is used to indicate situations where the challenge is

present with a different name (organizational structure and strategy which is expressed as “lack of all

company’s members direction to BIM in the case-study), or in case of the three individual challenges where

they are not mentioned separately but all occur combined in the case-study in the challenge “overcoming the

comfort of employees to change their working practice”.


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BIM implementation

challenges of the literature

Presence of the

challenges in the

case-study

Case-study challenges’ definitions

Environmental challenges

Regulations and norms V

Lack of regulations about BIM models’ privacy, collaboration

and in general how to deal with a construction process with

BIM.

Common standards and

information exchange X

BIM adoption at a national level V Lack of collaboration between companies, especially when data

are not protected.

Level of clients’ request for the

use of BIM V

Lack of clients’ awareness about BIM advantages and request

of BIM.

Organizational challenges

Time necessary to adopt the new

processes V

High initial time to be invested to create templates,

collaborative way of working and first projects with BIM.

High initial investment V High initial investment without assessing BIM economic

advantages in the short-term.

Organizational structure and strategy

~ Traditional way of working is still followed without a clear BIM workflow.

Top management support X

Re-define the business model X

Assign responsibilities for BIM

implementation X

Re-organization of teams V Lack of well-defined roles and responsibilities.

Data exchange within the firm V Information exchange and set up of information from the

beginning.

Developing a collaborative way of working

V Lack of all the company’s members direction to BIM.

Promotion of the company’s

BIM capacity V

Promotion of the company’s BIM capacity

Contract change arrangements

and costs X

Technological challenges

Interoperability V Interoperability between different software version.

Current IT structure support X

Scalability of BIM model X

Individual challenges

Cultural aspect ~ Overcoming the comfort of employees to change their working

practice. Individual drive towards change ~

Knowledge and skills ~

Table 15. Presence of the theoretical framework’s BIM implementation challenges in the case-study.

A description of the twelve BIM implementation challenges encountered in the case-study is provided

below:

1. Regulations and norms

The lack of public regulations about BIM is another challenge which affect its quick implementation into

design firm. Currently, in Italy there is no regulations about BIM. From a European point of view, the art. 23,

50/2016, is an European directive which in Italy and Spain differs from France, UK and German. The

“Decreto BIM” can be considered the first roadmap for BIM in public projects in Italy. It specifies that from

2025 only the model can be considered, without 2D design and any other document. Even if this goal will be

necessary in the next years, it appears that the Italian construction market is not ready yet for this challenge.

Moreover, no rule for Data exchange and responsibility of data (privacy and ownership) is provided or

planned to be published in the next years. Finally, the UNI (first official European norms form BIM) are not


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followed by Italian companies, which prefer the British or American standards. Based on the case-study

results, the challenge can be re-defined as: Lack of regulations about BIM models’ privacy, collaboration

and in general how to deal with a construction process with BIM.

2. BIM adoption at a national level

Another BIM implementation challenge found out from the case-study regards a clear lack of collaborative

way of working between all the companies involved in the construction process. Italian design firms, do not

feel comfortable when sharing BIM files, as a consequence of challenge 2. To this extend, the collaborative

BIM mindset still needs to be developed within the Italian construction sector. All the companies involved in

the project should work in the same model and there should not be problems of data-sharing and

collaboration. Based on the case-study results, the challenge can be re-defined as: Lack of collaboration

between companies, especially when data are not protected.

3. Level of clients’ request for the use of BIM

The first BIM implementation challenge regards the lack of clients’ request for BIM use in a construction

project. Italian public clients appears not to have enough knowledge to ask for BIM adoption, and a common

question General Planning finds out from clients is “How do I do it with BIM?”. Clients should request and

define the specifications which are going to be followed by the firm during the design. However, this lack of

knowledge emerges especially when clients ask for BIM just for the 3D model without information, when

they do not understand the future benefits and advantages for its use, or when they do not have an idea about

the requests/specifications which should be provided during the first phases of a project. Based on the case-

study results, the challenge can be re-defined as: Lack of clients’ awareness about BIM advantages and

request of BIM.

4. Time necessary to adopt the new processes

It is well-known BIM implementation requires time. A huge effort has to be made, especially in the previous

phases of the digitalization CAD-BIM process, to create a BIM collaborative vision among employees,

templates which can be used for projects among the same disciplines, Revit families, materials etc. It is

common practice that a design firm implementing BIM is at the same time working on other projects which

do not regard and are not affected by BIM implementation, but are normally made in CAD. For this reason,

what happens is an overlapping period between CAD projects and pilot BIM projects. GP faced the same

issue, and the company has now a position in the digitalization process where it is not possible to come back,

because of the amount of time and money the company invested, but at the same time is not possible yet to

predict when the payback period will be. This challenge generates fear among the top management and a

strategy should be taken in order to understand how much time (and money) is still required to definitely

switch to BIM. Based on the case-study results, the challenge can be re-defined as: High initial time to be

invested to create templates, collaborative way of working and first projects with BIM.

5. High initial investment

From the learning curve, it can be understood as the economic impact of BIM cannot be seen in the short

term. Indeed, time, resources and money have to be invested especially in the first phases of the BIM

implementation process in order to see relevant results in the mid-long period. To this extend, GP provides a

great example of an Italian design firm with strong management support to BIM implementation, which

invested a lot to reach a certain level of BIM use. GP invested in laptops, internal courses, software and

Autodesk licenses to support BIM implementation. The return on the investment in terms of time and costs is

difficult to be predicted by the top management of GP and, especially in this transitional phase, the lack of a

predictable cash-flow adds pressure on the strategical decisions of the firm. Based on the case-study results,

the challenge can be re-defined as: High initial investment without assessing BIM economic advantages

in the short-term.


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6. Organizational structure and strategy

Digital transition within the case-study is still an on-going process. From a process point of view, if the

traditional process is still followed for all the new projects, the real importance of BIM is not correctly

understood. The strategy of the firm has to be aligned with the new BIM goals. While a BIM implementation

plan has to be developed for all the new projects, in order to understand what the BIM goals are, and how

can be reached, a BIM workflow can help the company to have clear objectives about the BIM

implementation steps which have to be followed and what is the “example process” of a BIM project for the

specific firm. Following the traditional way of working inside and outside the firm does not allow a correct

application of BIM methodologies within the working procedures currently used by GP. Based on the case-

study results, the challenge can be re-defined as: Traditional way of working is still followed without a

clear BIM workflow.

7. Re-organization of teams

When implementing BIM, new roles have to be assigned or new people have to be hired in order to fulfill the

lack of BIM competences in terms of operations and processes. After the creation of a BIM department,

professional figures such as BIM managers, BIM coordinators and BIM specialists can be considered the

baseline from which building on an organizational structure in a design firm where BIM is implemented.

However, in the case of GP it was noticed that, even if a specific role was assigned to a specific person,

responsibilities not always correspond to the main role’s function. For instance, it is common to see the BIM

manager working with CAD drawings or the BIM specialists not led by a BIM manager during the design. In

the case of GP, importance is mainly given to the design, while the biggest issue is the management of the

BIM process. The presence of only two BIM coordinators and one BIM managers, in a period where the

amount of BIM projects is great, has created a sort of confusion about what the responsibilities are and how

the process can be managed and followed. Based on the case-study results, the challenge can be re-defined

as: Lack of well-defined roles and responsibilities.

8. Data exchange within the firm

Information exchange allows all different stakeholders to know exactly which information are needed in the

different phases of a project. In GP, when a project is started information are asked by the BIM department

(both verbal and written) and when something is missing during the process, internal phone calls are made or

small meeting are set up. However, the internal structure of the firm (divided into three different floor, with

external stairs to reach each floor) does not allow a perfect information exchange. The Design-BIM

department is split up into two different floors because of its different goal (the first one is for CAD and the

second for BIM), while a unique BIM department should exist with easy communication between different

department. The lack of clear Written information from the other departments about is a challenge the BIM

department is facing in this phase of the BIM implementation process. Based on the case-study results, the

challenge can be re-defined as: Information exchange and set up of information from the beginning.

9. Developing a collaborative way of working

All the company’s members need to be aligned to the direction of BIM. This challenge is a consequence of

challenge 6, but it refers more to the cohesion and alignment of the employees than to the resistance to

change. In GP, while the top management’s perspective “Pro-BIM” is clear, some employees still do not get

the advantages and are not well informed about the company’s future goals in terms of BIM. This

misalignment is creating a rift within the company, from people who are informed about the process GP is

undertaking, to employees who still do not have clear what is the company’s idea about BIM and what is the

plan for its implementation in the next years. This issue, united with the consequences of challenge 6, can be

considered an important barrier affecting the digitalization process inside the firm. Based on the case-study

results, the challenge can be re-defined as: Lack of all the company’s members direction to BIM.


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10. Promotion of the company’s BIM capacity

Digitalizing a design construction company requires a high effort in terms of costs, time and resources.

However, especially in a period where the market is not ready yet to BIM implementation, the company’s

effort should be translated from an initial issue to a competitive advantage in the market. GP shows a weak

point in terms of marketing and advertising. Even from the Website it can be noticed as the use of BIM is nor

well-promoted as one of the most important advantages the company can offer to clients. The promotion of

the firm’s capabilities and the seeking for new opportunities is left to the “managing the clients” department,

with the 3 members of top management directly involved in this activity. Without promoting the company’s

strengths and BIM successful uses in past projects it might be ambitious, if not impossible, for clients to

understand what GP can really offer in terms of BIM benefits. Based on the case-study results, the challenge

keeps being: Promotion of the company’s BIM capacity.

11. Interoperability

Interoperability regards problems of incompatibility between different software, file and information-

exchange. Interoperability’s issue is not excluded from the situation of GP. Autodesk Revit 2018 and 2019,

Navisworks and STR Vision (for cost calculations) are the BIM software currently used by the firm. Due to

the not advanced state-of-the-art of BIM implementation, GP has not experienced huge problems of

interoperability between different software, but the main challenge regards the use and exchange of Revit file

between different version of the software. Indeed, when opening a Revit 2018 file with a 2019 software

version, the file is compromised and is not possible to open it again with older version of Revit. This

problem has been partly solved by installing different Revit versions in each laptop but it causes delays,

hard-disk space use and possible mistakes. Based on the case-study results, the challenge can be re-defined

as: Interoperability between different software version.

12. Cultural aspect, Individual drive towards change, knowledge and skills

People are resistant to change. When BIM is implemented within a design firm, the cultural aspect and

employees’ resistance to change need to be considered. AutoCAD designers (with 20/30 years of experience)

are used to the way they work and, especially when the ages of experience are relevant, a change in the

current working practices is seen as insurmountable obstacle. For those reasons, the comfort of designers and

other members of the firm to change the current working practices is not easy to be overcome. Within GP, an

example can be found within the design department, where some people still use CAD and prefer to use it

over BIM, without understanding the advantages BIM can give to the all process and in the cost management

department. This challenge is a consequence of either the Italian traditional way of working (cultural aspect),

the individual drive towards change and the lack of knowledge people have on using new BIM software and

tools (such as Revit). For this reason, the three individual challenges of the theoretical framework can be

combined in one challenge for the case-study: Overcoming the comfort of employees to change their

working practice.

In Appendix 5, the level of challenges’ impact on the BIM implementation process can be found as well.

5.6 Comparison with the theoretical framework

Once identified all the challenges which affected the implementation of BIM in the case-study, those issues

can be compared with the theoretical framework previously developed. As it can be seen from the results, the

challenges which emerged are the same, differ or are more specific, in comparison with the theoretical

framework. This fact can be explained as it follows: the challenges which emerged from the literature are

broad and refer to a generic context of a design firm implementing BIM. In fact, by analyzing a generic

situation of a design firm implementing BIM the challenges’ definitions are kept more generic

(Interoperability, regulations and norms, cultural aspect etc.). On the other hand, the results of the case-study

provides an overview of which challenges might emerge from a specific context such as the one reviewed


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during the case-study. Indeed, the challenges analyzed from the literature, came up from different countries,

regulations, cultures and organizations, while the case-study is unique and its results describe the criticalities

related to BIM adoption which are part of a specific situation (the Italian construction sector). For this reason

an explanation of why the challenges differ, keep being the same or are more specific is provided below as

well. A red definition is provided to the challenges which did not emerge from the results.

5.6.1 Environmental challenges

Fig. 17. Differences between the environmental challenges found out in the literature and the case-study

results.

First of all, a comparison between the environmental challenges is provided.

As it can be seen in Figure 17, three environmental challenges emerged from the case-study, which can be

compared with the findings of the literature:

1. The challenge “lack of regulations and norms” is analyzed in the specific context of the Italian

construction industry and for this reason is not kept broad, but it specifically refers to the regulations about

BIM models’ privacy, collaboration and in general how to deal with a construction process with BIM. For

this reason, the challenge is the same, but the definition is extended, due to the lack of specific rules

regarding BIM implementation in Italy.

2. As it can be seen from the results, the common standards and information exchange is not included as a

relevant challenge for the case-study. This can be explained as it follows: the lack of common standards is

not directly included as a challenge because it can be considered a consequence of the lack of regulations and

norms about BIM. Indeed, if no regulation about common standard and information exchange has been

published, a consequence is that the largest design firms own the market by deciding common standards.

Those standards are proposed in contracts to firms with less power or experience in a BIM project, with few

firms getting more power inside the market.

3. The challenge BIM adoption at a national level is translated in the case-study into “lack of collaboration

between different firms, especially when data are not protected”. This lack of collaboration emerged

especially when companies with a different BIM maturity level have to collaborate on a single BIM project,

generating lack of trust for reasons related to either the use of software (in case of Revit all the families,

objects, parameters, templates, materials etc.). BIM adoption at a national level was difficult if not

impossible to measure during the research, because it required a survey or interviews through the all Italian

territory to understand what is the BIM maturity level of several Italian construction firms. For this reason,

even if the BIM adoption at a national level was not directly measured, this challenge is strictly related to the

BIM maturity level between Italian companies and the more BIM is adopted within Italian firms, higher is

the level of collaboration between different firms on a BIM project.

Environmental Challenges

Challenges of the Theoretical framework Case-study results

Regulations and norms Lack of regulations about BIM models’ privacy,

collaboration and in general how to deal with a construction

process with BIM

Common standards and information exchange Did not emerge. As a consequence of a delay in the

publication of norms about common standard and information exchange, the largest design firms own the

market by deciding common standards.

BIM adoption at a national level Lack of collaboration between companies, especially when

data are not protected

Level of clients’ request for the use of BIM Lack of client awareness about BIM advantages and request

of BIM


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4. The lack of client awareness about BIM advantages and request of BIM is still one of the most relevant

challenges of the framework. This challenge is mentioned in the theoretical framework as “level of client’s

request for the use of BIM” but in the case-study it emerged as the lack of request is a consequence of the

lack of awareness Italian clients have about BIM benefits and advantages for the future. For this reason this

issue is stated with the more specific definition “lack of client awareness about BIM advantages and request

of BIM.

5.6.2 Technological challenges

Fig. 18. Differences between the technological challenges found out in the literature and the case-study

results.

1. From the technological challenges which came up from the theoretical framework, as it can be seen in

Figure 18, only the issue of interoperability slightly affected BIM implementation in GP. However, as

mentioned in Chapter 5.5, due to GP has not experienced huge problems of interoperability between

different software, but the main challenge regards the use and exchange of Revit file between different

version of the software. Indeed, when opening a Revit 2018 file with a 2019 software version, the file is

compromised and is not possible to open it again with older version of Revit. For this reason, the broad

challenge “Interoperability” of the theoretical framework is adapted to the specific context of the case-study

and is extended in “Interoperability between different software version”.

2-3. The other two challenges of the theoretical framework, the scalability of BIM models and IT

infrastructure support cannot be considered relevant challenges for the case-study and for this reason have

not been included in the results. This is a result of the strong IT system implemented by the company and the

high amount of resources (time and money) invested to support BIM implementation. Additionally, the

company’s attitude aiming to a constant improvement of the internal IT capabilities limit the emerging of

new challenges related to the technological aspects of BIM implementation and for this reason no new

technological challenges were noticed during the case-study observation.

5.6.3 Individual challenges

Fig. 19. Differences between the individual challenges found out in the literature and the case-study results.

Technological Challenges


Interoperability Interoperability between different software version

Current IT infrastructure support

Did not emerge. Strong IT system implemented Scalability of BIM models

Individual Challenges


Cultural aspect

Overcoming the comfort of employees to change

their working practice

Individual drive towards change

Knowledge and skills


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Individual challenges always refer to a cultural aspect which affect people’s difficulty to overcome the

comfort to change the working routine. The main individual challenge which emerged from the case-study

can be described as “overcoming the comfort of employees to change their working practice”. Indeed, inside

GP, almost all the designers seem to show difficulties in overcoming the comfort to change their working

practice. For this reason, this challenge is delaying BIM implementation, even if the company is trying to

invest in trainings in order to build up a BIM maturity. When comparing this issue with the challenges which

emerged from the theory, it can be noticed as it is a mix of the cultural aspect, individual drive towards

change and knowledge/skills which emerged from the literature review. The fear to change, highly connected

with the challenge “Individual drive towards change” is also a consequence of the Italian culture inside the

construction industry, which follows a traditional way of working, difficult to overcome. Moreover, the

knowledge and skills required to apply the new working methodologies, can be considered another obstacle

which is delaying BIM implementation, because designers might be “lazy” to change their working practices

by adopting new ones. For this reason, the issue emerged from the case-study, can be considered as a mix of

the three factors encountered in the literature review (the cultural aspect or the Italian traditional way of

working, individual drive towards change as well as the employees’ skills and knowledge about new

software) and perfectly describes in one sentence the human factors which are delaying BIM implementation

in an Italian design firm.

5.6.4 Organizational challenges

The organizational challenges are those which changed the most when comparing the theoretical framework

with the results of the case-study. This Chapter aims to analyze which differences can be found out from the

comparison between them and why some challenges differ or are not part of the case-study.

All the results, which are described below, can be seen in Figure 20.

Fig. 20. Differences between the organizational challenges found out from the literature and the case-study.

Organizational Challenges

Theoretical framework Case-study results

Time necessary to adopt the new processes High initial time invested to create templates, collaborative

way of working and first projects with BIM

High initial investment High initial investment without assessing BIM economic

advantages in the short-term

Organizational structure and strategy Lack of all the company’s members direction to BIM

Top management support Did not emerge. High effort of the top management in

promoting and stimulating the use of BIM inside the firm.

Re-define the business model Did not emerge. Business model re-definition due to BIM

adoption inside the firm has been considered a solution and

not a challenge of the digitalization process

Assign responsibilities for BIM implementation Lack of well-defined roles and responsibilities

Re-organization of teams

Data exchange within the firm Information exchange and set up of information from the

beginning

Developing a collaborative way of working Traditional way of working is still followed, without a clear

BIM workflow

Promotion of the company’s BIM capacity Promotion of the company’s BIM capacity

Contract change arrangements and costs Did not emerge. Design companies are trying to develop

contracts based on their needs, producing either the EIR and

BEP for clients. This might appear as a future challenge


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1. The time necessary to adopt the new processes is present in both the framework and the case-study results.

BIM implementation is a long process which requires several actions. For this reason, the challenge’s

definition is extended in the case-study, by defining that the time should be invested especially in the first

phases of the project to create templates, a collaborative way of working and the first projects with BIM. As

explained previously in the research, the choice of changing the definition is given by the more specific

context which the case-study refers to, which provides a more defined explanation of the challenge.

2. For the high initial investment, a similar description of the initial time invested can be provided. As

previously described, an extension of the definition is given, as in the case-study the main problem was the

high initial investment without assessing the economic advantages for the future. Indeed, the top

management team was not against the BIM-related investment, however, it created fear because of the lack

of an existing long-term view in terms of the benefits the use of BIM might provide to the firm itself.

3. The third challenge of the theoretical framework is “organizational structure and strategy”. Even if this

challenge did not directly come up from the case-study, a “lack of all company’s members direction to BIM”

emerged from GP. This challenge can be considered a consequence of the BIM strategy of the firm, which

do not consent an easy alignment of the employees to the BIM direction. This challenge can be influenced by

individual and human factors as well (such as the individual drive towards change), however it has been

proved how setting up a correct BIM strategy helps on defining the path to be followed during the

implementation process.

4. The top management support cannot be considered a relevant challenge in GP, due to the high effort of the

top management in promoting and stimulating the use of BIM inside the firm. This challenge might emerge

as found out in the literature in other design organizations, but in case of GP did not influence the BIM

implementation process but it can be considered an advantage “pro-BIM”.

5. The re-definition of the business model did not come up from the case-study as well. This fact can be

described as it follows. Even if it was found out to be a challenge from the literature which affects BIM

implementation in a design firm, during this research the re-definition of the business model due to BIM

adoption inside the firm has been considered a solution and not a challenge of the digitalization process. This

change of view can be explained when providing an explanation of what developing a business model for

BIM is, in Chapter 6.2.1.

6-7. Challenges 6 and 7 of the theoretical framework refers to “assigning the responsibilities for BIM

implementation” and the “re-organization of teams”. Those two challenges emerged in the case-study, as a

lack of well-defined roles and responsibilities inside the firm. Those roles regard who is responsible for the

BIM implementation process (Challenge 6), and how can the new roles be inserted in the organizational

context in terms of teams and departments (Challenge 7). For this reason, the challenge “lack of well defined

roles and responsibilities inside the firm includes either challenge 6 and 7 of the theoretical framework, and

this new definition acquires importance within the BIM implementation process because roles have to be

assigned to both conduct the implementation process and to approach the BIM methodology in the new

projects the firm will get involved.

8. The exchange of data within a firm appeared to be an organizational challenge from the literature review.

In case of General Planning, the main problem related to exchange within the firm was about the information

sharing between employees and set up the information from the beginning. This change of the challenge’s

definition is given by the importance information exchange has in a BIM process. Before sharing files and

data, information has to be set up, especially at the beginning of a BIM project, and for this reason if the

problem of information exchange is overcome, data sharing becomes easier.

9. The problem of creating a collaborative way of working is still present in the case-study, however a

definition of “traditional way of working is still followed without a clear BIM workflow” is preferred. This is

a consequence of the great importance the creation of a BIM workflow has in the BIM implementation

process. The choice of changing definition is given by the amount of times the creation of a BIM workflow

emerged to be a challenge during the interview processes. It has to be noticed how a BIM workflow can

speed up the BIM process and increase the collaboration inside the firm. Indeed, the creation of a BIM


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workflow is the first step to overcome the traditional way of working within a design firm and for this reason

this definition is more appropriated.

10. The promotion of the company’s BIM capacity of a firm did not change from the theoretical to the case-

study results. This is because a firm implementing BIM has to promote its BIM capabilities to clients, future

customers and other firms in order to get the best benefits from the use of BIM. This challenge may be

solved by created a marketing department, as it is described in Chapter 6.

11. The challenge “contract change arrangements and costs” is not present in the results of the case-study.

That is because contracts in the Italian construction market are not BIM-related yet. Design companies are

trying to develop contracts based on their needs, producing either the EIR and BEP for clients. However this

might not be considered a challenge but an advantage for the design firm because of the possibility to get an

advantage in the market and get a leadership position in the sector. For all the reasons above mentioned, this

challenge cannot be considered part of the case-study. For this reason, even if it did not come up in the case-

study, this challenge might be considered relevant in a future perspective.

5.7 Conclusion of the case-study

This chapter aimed to either analyze the current and expected BIM situation and design practices of an

Italian design company and at the same time to find out what are the challenges the company had to face, or

it is still facing, while conducting the digital transition CAD-BIM. To this purpose, a case-study research

method has been chosen and General Planning Spa was selected as a firm. The results of the case-study

aimed to provide an answer to the following research questions: 1.2 What is the current and desired practice of BIM within an Italian design organization?


implementing BIM?

While conducting the interviews, the research questions found an answer to both the problems which were

asked. The company’s current BIM situation was found out to be between level 1 and 2, aiming to grow up

till completely reaching BIM maturity level 2. The future and current design situation of all the different

disciplines was investigated during the data collection period. It emerged the company is deeply involved in

the digitalization process, but a lot of work has still to be done in order to adapt the traditional way of

working to the BIM procedures. Moreover, form the interviews with employees, the technical director and

the BIM manager of the firm, several BIM implementation obstacles came up which have been compared

with the theoretical framework previously developed. The most important results are the strong top

management support to BIM implementation, the lack of a clear BIM workflow and well-defined roles and

responsibilities during a BIM project, the strong IT system which avoided several technological challenges,

the lack of regulations regarding BIM models’ privacy and ownership which affects collaboration between

different Italian firms, the lack of clients’ request about BIM use in construction projects and the overall

traditional way of working (cultural aspect) which is delaying the digital transition.

Due to the relevant position GP has in the Italian construction market (12th design company by earnings in

2016) the challenges affecting BIM implementation inside the firm can be considered a great example of the

obstacles all the Italian design firms might find when deciding to implement BIM in the organization.

To this extend, General Planning can be considered as a reference point in the Italian construction sector, one

of the first design companies which decided to adopt BIM. As a consequence, the results of this case-study

can be used by other Italian design firms which are facing or planning to face the digital transition as an

example of what re the problems which need to be avoided when implementing BIM.

While in this chapter the problems regarding BIM implementation were identified, the next one will focus on

what needs to be done in order to solve these challenges and correctly implement BIM inside an Italian

design organization.


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6.Overcoming the challenges and recommendations

Chapter 5 provided an analysis of the current and expected BIM situation and design practices of an Italian

design company and an overview of the encountered challenges during the digital transition CAD-BIM. This

Chapter logically follows the previous one, finding out what are the possible recommendations which can be

provided to a generic Italian design company encountering the same BIM implementation challenges which

came out from the case-study. Overcoming the implementation challenges is the first step to be conducted to

correctly implement BIM within an organization. This paragraph introduces the second phase of the

research, using a different research methodology to answer to the second main question of the graduation

project. The main question to be answered is:

What are the possible strategies and recommendations needed for an Italian construction company

to overcome the challenges described, and to conduct the digital transition from CAD to BIM and

successfully implement BIM into its every-day working routine?

While Chapter 5 aims to find out what the BIM implementation challenges are and, according to Verschuren

(2010), it can be seen as the diagnosis of the causes for a practice-oriented research, this phase of the study

corresponds to the design of a plan to overcome the previously identified issues and at the same time

providing recommendations to similar Italian design firms facing the same BIM implementation challenges.

Moreover, an overview of what kind of changes are necessary in terms of people (change management),

organization (organizational structure) and ICT structure (software and interoperability) will be provided

when explaining which actions have to be conducted to successfully implement BIM.

First of all, the methodology which has been used during this stage of the research, the interview questions

and the sub-questions to be answered are exposed in Chapter 6.1.

Chapter 6.2 shows what are the possible recommendations addressing to the BIM implementation problems

found out during the case-study and, when present, a practical example of how the specific challenge has

been faced by GP during the months of research is provided to the reader.

Finally, Chapter 6.3 explains how the actions to be undertaken can be sequenced to build up a BIM

implementation roadmap for an Italian design firm.

6.1 Methodology

This Chapter aims to explain what kind of methodology has been followed during Phase 3 of the research.

The main goal of this phase was to answer to the three sub-questions developed in the research proposal,

which automatically answer to the main questions Q2. The sub-questions to be answered are:

2.1 What kind of recommendations can be provided for an organization to overcome the challenges


2.2 What kind of change management is it necessary in the organizations (people and managers) and

from an ICT perspective to facilitate and apply correctly the BIM methodology into Italian

construction companies?


implement BIM into its ever-day working routine?

Two type of data collection method were used during this phase of the research. In the first stage, semi-

structured interviews took place with BIM implementation experts, Professors or PhD candidates of

prestigious Italian universities (such as the Polytechnic of Turin and Polytechnic of Milan), digital

transformation experts and BIM professionals who live in the area between Turin and Milan, north of Italy.

The choice of semi-structured interviews is the same explained in the previous Chapter, because of the

flexibility the structure of questions has. Again, the set of questions is composed by a fixed and an open part,

letting the respondents more freedom to express their opinion. In total, 8 interviews were conducted in the


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period of July-August, as it can be seen in Table 22, where names, roles, expertise and number of interviews

is shown.

As conducted in the case-study, the interviews were recorded with mobile phones and listened again to write

all the data in a word file. Afterwards, the data was analyzed to get the most relevant information to answer

to the research questions.

In the second stage a literature review has been conducted to find out what are the best approaches to

overcome the identified BIM implementation challenges, in order to understand what other design

companies did in similar circumstances or what needs to be undertaken to successfully implement BIM in an

organization in terms of people and change, skills, IT and organizational structure.

Name Role Expertise N. of interviews

Ing. V. Villa Professor and BIM consultant

BIM implementation

2

Arch. G. M. Di Giuda

Professor and BIM expert for the Italian market

BIM regulations and future norms

1

M. Bonanomi PhDresearcher Digitalization in the Italian construction sector

2

Alberto G. Digital expert Change management

1

Giacomo B. BIM manager BIM implementation

1

Chiara R. BIM implementationconsultant

BIM implementation

1

Table 22. Respondents’ role, expertise and number of interviews (for reasons of privacy some surnames

cannot be provided).

The fixed part of the interview consists in the following questions:

1. Roles and expertise. What is your role and expertise?

The answer to this question provides an overview of the different roles the respondents have and in

which field they focused their expertise.

2. BIM implementation. How are you involved in BIM implementation?

The level of knowledge about the topic was one of the reasons why the respondents were selected

among different experts.

3. Recommendations to the challenges. Given the developed framework, how can an Italian design firm

overcome the most important issues encountered when implementing BIM into the firm?

This question helped the respondents to give their opinion about what has to be done to overcome

the most important BIM implementation challenges encountered in the case-study.

4. Changes in the organization, ICT structure and change management.

What kind of changes are necessary in a design organization in terms of people and managers

(change management), when implementing BIM?

This question aims to find out what are the possible solutions in terms of change management and

re-organization of roles and responsibilities which can help an Italian design firm during the

digitalization process CAD-BIM.

What kind of changes are necessary from an ICT perspective (not only from a software prospective)

and licenses in order to make it worth the implementation of BIM?


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This question aims to find out what are the possible solutions in terms of ICT structure, software and

interoperability to e considered when adopting BIM inside an organization.

5. Changes in the Business model. What kind of business model can be defined when implementing

BIM and how can be considered a correct business strategy for a design firm which is conducting

the digital transition CAD/BIM?

The answer to this question provides an overview of what kind of business model needs to be

adopted by a firm which is implementing BIM.

6. BIM implementation roadmap. Which steps are necessary in order to implement BIM into a design

firm, which has never worked with it before?

This question aims to find out what are the most important actions which have to be undertaken by a

firm which is implementing BIM and how the different steps can be ordered in a BIM

implementation roadmap for an Italian design firm.

The questionnaire which was used when conducting the interviews can be found in Appendix 6.

6.2 Recommendations addressing the BIM implementation challenges

BIM implementation challenges’

solutions and possible actions to be

undertaken

Contextual/organizational

level Addressed challenges

Development of new regulations about

BIM models’ privacy and BIM process

contextual 1. Lack of regulations about BIM models’

privacy, collaboration and in general how to

deal with a construction process with BIM. 2. Lack of collaboration between companies,

especially when data are not protected

Stimulating the clients’ BIM request in

construction projects

contextual 3. Lack of clients’ awareness about BIM

advantages and request of BIM.

Developing a feasibility study for BIM organizational 4. High initial investment without assessing

BIM economic advantages in the short-term;

5. High initial time to be invested to create

templates, collaborative way of working and

first projects with BIM.

Set up the BIM strategy organizational 9. Lack of all the company’s members

direction to BIM

Developing a business model for BIM organizational 3. Lack of collaboration between companies,

especially when data are not protected 5 High initial investment without assessing

BIM economic advantages in the short-term

Developing a BIM workflow organizational 6. Traditional way of working is still

followed without a clear BIM workflow

Developing roles and responsibilities

inside the BIM workflow.

organizational 7. Lack of well-defined roles and

responsibilities.

Creation of a marketing department organizational 10. The company’s BIM capability is not

well promoted

Forming the BIM implementation

group

organizational 5. High initial time to be invested to create

templates, collaborative way of working and

first projects with BIM

Trainings of resources and employees –

human resource development plan

organizational 12. Overcoming the comfort of employees to

change their working practice

Developing collaboration and

procedural protocol

organizational 8. Information exchange and set up of

information from the beginning.

Developing the technical resource plan organizational 11. Interoperability between different

software

Table 21. BIM implementation actions, recommendations and addressed challenges.


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As a consequence of the BIM implementation challenges described in Chapter 5, the question to be answered

still remains what needs to be done and which actions need to be undertaken to overcome and provide

solutions to the identified challenges. From the interviews and the literature review, several possible

solutions emerged to be appropriate when a design company has to face BIM implementation and the

digitalization process inside the organization. The actions have been divided into two different level,

contextual level if the actions have to be conducted by external actors, such as the government, public or

private clients, and organizational, if the company itself is the responsible party for those actions. All the

actions, as it can be seen in Table 21, are presented with the addressed challenges, and with practical

example from the interviews, when available.

Each action described, aims to solve at least one the BIM implementation challenges found out in the case-

study, even if some solutions address to more than one issue. In this chapter a theoretical solution is

provided, in order to be used as a theoretical guideline for a generic Italian design firm facing the same

problems, while an example on how the challenges has been initially or will be addressed by GP is provided

as well. As a consequence, this chapter can be considered important for either theoretical and practical

purposes, in case of an Italian design firm implementing BIM inside its organization.

6.2.1 Contextual level actions

As mentioned above, contextual or environmental level actions, are those which can be undertaken

externally from the firm. Specifically, in the Italian construction sector, two main actions recommendations

can be provided, which are the development of new regulations about BIM models’ privacy and processes

and the stimulation of the clients’ request for BIM in construction projects. A description of the proposed

recommendations and the addressed challenges is proposed below. The numbers mentioned before each

challenge refer to the numerical order those are proposed in the case-study Chapter.

A. Development of new regulations about BIM models’ privacy and BIM process

Addressed challenges:

1. Lack of regulations about BIM models’ privacy, collaboration and in general how to deal with a

construction process with BIM.

2. Lack of collaboration between companies, especially when data are not protected

One of the main problems which are delaying the digital transition CAD-BIM in the Italian construction

sector, is the lack of existing regulations about BIM processes in a construction project. Specifically, it

appears to be evident the lack of rules about “who is responsible for what” in a BIM model, and which party

is going to keep the privacy of the model when the project is over. This challenge generates a lack of trust

among companies who collaborate each other. To this extend, the main recommendations which can be

provided came up from the interviews with BIM regulations experts and are related to the development of

new regulations and rules about BIM models’ privacy and collaboration between companies within a BIM

process. Those rules have to be published by the government in the next years to stimulate the adoption of

BIM in the Italian construction market.

In Italy, the first regulation about BIM was the “Decreto N. 560, 1 December 2017”, which can be

considered a roadmap for BIM implementation in Italian public projects (Ministro delle Infrastrutture e dei

trasporti, 2017). It can be found in page 2 of this research. As a consequence of this regulation, from 2025

on, only the model can be considered for all the information needed, as it becomes part of the contract.

According to the main Italian BIM regulations’ experts , such as Professor G. M. Di Giuda, the Decreto BIM

is kind of ambitious considering the actual situation of the Italian construction sector, and it is possible the

norm will be delayed if the standards cannot be reached by the majority of Italian construction, design and

engineering companies. From an European point of view, the ISO norms have been published in the last

years, about the adoption of BIM in different European countries. However, the European directive shows


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differences between Germany, UK and France, explaining clearly the word “BIM” and other countries such

as Italy and Spain where the same concept is explained in terms of digital system. Even if those rules show a

clear direction pro-BIM of the European and Italian government, it seems to be evident how new regulations

have to be published in the next years about BIM models’ privacy and collaboration methods within a BIM

project, because of the spreading BIM is having in the construction sector.

BIM regulations Date/goal of publication

“Decreto BIM” N. 160

1 December 2017. Roadmap for BIM implementation in

the Italian construction sector.

European ISO Published in the last years but not followed by Italian

companies

Regulations about BIM models’ privacy and ownership Not published. No actual plan to publish them

Fig.22. BIM regulations for the Italian construction sector.

B. Stimulating the clients’ BIM request in construction projects


3. Lack of clients’ awareness about BIM advantages and request of BIM.

As emerged from the case-study observation, one of the main problems which is affecting and delaying BIM

implementation in the Italian construction market is the lack of capabilities and knowledge public clients

have to deal with a BIM process. From the experience of GP, only in few cases a client required BIM with a

complete and well-defined Employer Information Requirement (EIR). In all the other cases, the design

company itself, in this case General Planning, took the responsibility to develop a document with the BIM

requirements, according to what the company can provide as a service to the client. As it can be understood,

the method above mentioned cannot led to a correct BIM use, because the design company either writes the

requirements (EIR) and the intended way on how those requirements can be met (BEP). For this reason,

public clients have to be trained to correctly manage a BIM process and, as a consequence, increase the

request of BIM in construction projects. Trainings about how to deal with BIM processes can be considered

a possible solution to solve this issue.

Steps of a well-defined EIR by public clients What must be included in each section

1. Scope and purpose of the project The project’s aim, project stages

2. BIM goals and uses Different uses of BIM and BIM goals for all the phases of

the project

3. Roles and responsibilities BIM team names, roles, training requirements and responsibilities

4. Competence assessment Evaluation of the competences

5. Technical requirements Software formats, system performance, volumes, zones

and areas, naming conventions, coordinates, standards

and guidance documents, compliance plan

6. Specific modeling requirements Specific requirements of the 3D model

7. Information management requirements Discipline models, level of development, asset

information requirements

8. Collaboration requirements Information exchange, coordination, clash prevention and

detection, health & safety, workshops

9. Sharing requirements common data environment, collaboration process,

publishing process, security requirements

Fig 23. Table of content of a well-defined EIR for public clients.


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To this purpose, a practical example of an Italian BIM project, where the public client was assisted during all

the bid process, is the Galiera Hospital of Genova. This example came up during the interviews. GP took part

to the selection process for this project, even if they could not succeed on winning it. In case of the Galiera

Hospital project, public clients developed in collaboration with BIM experts a well-structured EIR, which

can be used as an example for other Italian BIM projects. The table of contents of the EIR used in this

project can be considered an important example for other Italian public clients and for this reason it can be

provided in Figure 23.

6.2.2 Organizational level actions

The second level of actions regards the activities which can be undertaken by the firm itself and are not

outside from its decisional power. Organizational level actions have been defined as those activities which

consent a design firm to leaner implement BIM and are decisions which can be made from the inside of the

company. Specifically, ten main recommendations can be provided in this chapter. The activities, which are

described below, can be divided into four groups. Developing a feasibility study for BIM, setting-up the BIM

strategy and developing a business model for BIM are those strategic activities a company has to undertake.

The following group is related to the BIM workflow, with its creation and the development of roles and

responsibilities inside it. The third group regards the creation of new groups inside the company, such as the

formation of the BIM implementation group and the creation of an internal marketing department. The fourth

group is about resources, collaboration and IT, including the training of resources and employees,

Developing collaboration and procedural protocol and the development of the technical resource plan.

C. Developing a feasibility study for BIM


4. High initial time to be invested to create templates, collaborative way of working and first projects with

BIM.

5. High initial investment without assessing BIM economic advantages in the short-term;

A literature review can be conducted to understand what does it mean developing a feasibility study for BIM.

According to Hoagland (2000), a feasibility study can be developed, in an objective and rational way, to

uncover the strengths and weak points of a new idea, opportunities which are present in the correlated

environment, to assess the cost which is required in order to get the expected result and finally what are the

forecasts in term of success once the idea is followed. In order to assess the feasibility of an investment, such

as the implementation of BIM, a comparison between the required costs and the value which can be obtained

from the investment has to be conducted. The feasibility study has to be conducted by people inside the

organization or external consultant who have knowledge about possible investments for innovations and

what are the possible benefits from that investment. In order to conduct a feasibility study for BIM, two

actions have to made at the company level, as described in Table 24.

The two stages a company has to follow

to conduct a BIM feasibility study

Stage 1: An assessment of the strong/weak points,

opportunities, main benefits for the organization in the

future, why BIM is crucial for the organization and what

the company can get, not only from an economical point of view, with its implementation inside the firm

Stage 2: A trade-off between the advantages, benefits and

disadvantages encountered in the previous stage and the

money which need to be invested for BIM

implementation. In this step an assessment of the investment’s feasibility is made, in order to understand if

the benefits overcome the economical lost for the firm

Table 24. Stages to conduct a BIM feasibility study.


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As output of these two actions, the potential success of BIM in the organization might emerge. During the

feasibility study several information has to be collected, such as market conditions, implementation cost

evaluation, current and future value of BIM for the company.

From a practical point of view, even if the economic advantages of BIM are difficult to predict in the short

period, a learning curve can be done by Italian design companies in order to assess if the time and money

invested can be earned in the future.

D. Set up the BIM strategy


9. Lack of all the company’s members direction to BIM

Consequently to the feasibility study, the organization should work together in order to create a common

vision which correlate the business strategy of the firm with the current and expected development of BIM

technology. The strategy should state in a clear and realistic way how to solve all the principal problems

regarding BIM implementation, for example forming a set of principles which can be used during the

different stages of BIM adoption regarding interoperability between BIM software, communication exchange

methods and setting up the most important milestones of what has to be achieved during the BIM

implementation process. The BIM strategy development should be a top management decision, because of

the importance this strategic choice has on the future of the firm.

When analyzing this aspect during the interviews with the BIM implementation experts, it emerged that a

BIM strategic report should be developed focused on the effectiveness of the implementation process based

on the specific situation of the involved organization. There is no possibility to develop a common strategy

for all the design firms involved in the implementation process because of the unique situation each

organization has to face. Therefore, the focus of this strategy should be on the development of an approach

the company has to follow to implement the technology in a way that better fits their needs and can provide

the best benefits in a future perspective. Even if each company has to align a different business strategy to

BIM direction, different guidelines can be used as a starting point for an organization, such as the US

National BIM Standard and the UK BSi Standard Framework and Guide to BS1192.

E. Developing a Business model for BIM


5. High initial investment without assessing BIM economic advantages in the short-term

3. Lack of collaboration between companies, especially when data are not protected

BIM implementation causes several issues to organizations which have not already aligned the business

strategy in favor of BIM adoption. A change in the business model is required from each department to

follow the company’s BIM strategy previously set up and encompass BIM. The literature provides examples

of what has to be changed in the business model to adapt it to BIM. The principal elements of the business

model, key partners, key activities, resources, cost structure, value proposition, customer segments and

relationships, revenue streams have to be re-defined according to the needs of the new working methodology

(Osterwalder et al., 2010). Several aspects of the model change as a consequence of BIM implementation,

such as the development of a marketing strategy for BIM, the development of new knowledge and skills

among employees, the use of different contract types when collaborating with other firms and the re-

definition of the organizational structure according to BIM. When re-defining the business model, a cost

evaluation has to be conducted which can help to assess the return of the investment for BIM

implementation. Moreover, a change in the relationships with other companies, stakeholders and clients is

necessary, as consequence of interoperability between different firms and evaluation of the BIM maturity

level each firm has reached in the collaboration period. For this reason, contractors and sub-contractors will

be selected as partners for a project by a design company only when the BIM maturity level between the


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firms is similar and not a large amount of time has to be invested to leverage the BIM capabilities of

different companies collaborating in the same project.

Moreover, the internal resources and key BIM activities should be defined as well when modifying the

business model. The company’s organizational structure has to be changed according to the BIM needs. New

resources have to be introduced when a lack of BIM knowledge and skills appears to be relevant.

The creation of a BIM portfolio can be seen as an instrument to amplify the marketing power of a firm. The

changes required in terms of marketing are described in the “creation of a marketing department paragraph”.

F. Developing a BIM workflow


6. Traditional way of working is still followed without a clear BIM workflow

A workflow consists of a sequence and progression of steps (tasks, events, interactions) that comprise a work

process, involve more than one person and create or add value to an organization. Having a well-structure

workflow, gives to all the company’s employees a clear structure of which activities can occur concurrently

or are dependent each other. In the case-study, it appeared evident as the lack of a BIM workflow created

uncertainties in which activities had to be performed in all the stages of a BIM process. For this reason,

during the interviews it became relevant to understand how the workflow might be built up. In case of GP, a

BIM workflow was developed in the month of September by the researcher and the BIM manager of the

firm. This workflow can be used as a practical example of how a BIM process should be structured in an

Italian design organization which is approaching the digital transition CAD-BIM. As it can be seen in

Appendix 7, the workflow shows different activities divided into four phases, which are respectively the

BIM implementation plan, the preliminary design, the definitive design and the executive design. All the

workflow’s steps can be found in Appendix 7.

G. Developing roles and responsibilities inside the BIM workflow.


7. Lack of well-defined roles and responsibilities.

This recommendation came up as well from the interviews with change management and BIM experts.

When working with BIM, new roles and responsibilities have to be developed inside the firm. Roles such as

BIM manager, BIM coordinator and BIM specialist will replace traditional and existing roles inside a firm.

A whole process of change management is required when IT is implemented inside a company, and BIM is

not an exception. Furthermore, a new organizational structure have to be developed to improve coordination

between the departments of the company. When developing those roles inside the firm, two possible paths

can be followed: the first one regards the possibility to offer trainings among the current employees, while

the second is hiring new employees with the needed knowledge and skills (This part is described in Sub-

Chapter – trainings of resources and employees). The implementation of BIM causes the creation of a new

department inside an organization, which for the transition period can co-exist with the CAD Department.

All the major changing for the organizational structure of a firm trying to implement BIM can be

summarized in Table 25.

Change management is a process and, for this reason, there might a need of months if not years to elaborate

and develop a correct organizational workflow for the specific situation of the firm. Even if a general

example of BIM organizational structure might be provided, it has to be adapted to the specific situation of

each firm and, for this reason, most companies refer to external consultants to help them developing the

correct organizational structure for BIM implementation. This paragraph partially provides an answer to sub-

question 2.2 about what kind of change management is necessary when a design company implements BIM

inside the organization.


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Changes in the organizational structure of a design firm implementing BIM

1. A new department, even called BIM department will slowly replace the CAD department

2. New roles such as BIM manager, BIM coordinator and BIM specialists will appear on the organizational structure

3. Introduction of A system engineering department, with the responsibility to manage collaboration between different departments (cost calculation, accounting, MEP, structural, architectural etc.).

4. New roles such as system engineers can be developed as well, even if in case of small-medium size firms there might be the need to set up this department with one or two members of each department with a double role, such as

BIM specialist-system engineers. Those people have to manage the collaboration for all the BIM processes of the

firm and, for this reason, there might be a need to meet weekly to assess the progresses in a project

5. All the developed roles inside the firm have to be aligned with the developed BIM workflow.

Responsibilities have to be assigned to all the firm’s members in order to complete all the available succession of task

of the BIM workflow. The alignment between responsibilities and the tasks of the BIM workflow is a crucial step for

a correct BIM implementation process

Table 25. Changes in the organizational structure of a design firm implementing BIM

H. Creation of a marketing department


10. The company’s BIM capability is not well promoted

As emerged from the interviews, a marketing campaign can be developed to show and better promote the

BIM capabilities of the firm. Marketing can be internal, conducted for the members of the organization, to

become aware of the new working methodology and all its advantages, or external when the BIM capabilities

of the firm are promoted in the construction market. In the case-study, the internal marketing has been

conducted by showing with internal meetings and courses what are the benefits which can be got by using

BIM and, at the same time, what has to be done inside the firm to reach a certain BIM maturity level.

However, a problem which emerged in GP is the lack of a well-defined external marketing campaign, to

promote and show to clients, stakeholders, users or other firms the BIM level reached by the firm itself. In

order to overcome this obstacle, a marketing department can be created inside the firm, with employees

specialized in marketing through the website, social media, brochures and all the possible marketing

instruments. Those department, normally composed by one or two employees, has the goal to increase the

firm’s brand inside the construction sector, to get more projects, increase earnings and improve the

reputation of the firm. All the advantages to create a marketing department are described in Table 26.

Table 26. Advantages in the creation of a marketing department for a design firm implementing BIM.

Advantages for the creation of a marketing department for a design firm implementing BIM

1. Increasing the firm’s brand inside the construction sector and being an example for other companies facing the digitalization process

2. Getting the possibility to earn more projects

3. Getting an increase in the long-term earnings

4. Improve the reputation of the firm. Being well-recognized from public and private clients


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I. Forming the BIM implementation group


5. High initial time to be invested to create templates, collaborative way of working and first projects with

BIM

When adopting a new working methodology inside an organization, there should always be a leading group

inside the company in order to advice, arrange and take the responsibility to lead all the implementation

process. The main goal of the implementation group is to identify what are the leanest paths, from a

strategical and organizational point of view, when implementing ICT inside a company. In case of a design

firm implementing BIM, the responsible group should be composed by few people from each department.

This group should be supported by the top management to develop a common BIM implementation plan for

the firm. First of all, there should be defined what are the needs for each department and which information

extracted from the model are needed by each group. Secondly, the group should collaborate to find out how

can those information be provided to the correspondent group. Thirdly, the implementation group should

work together to elaborate the BIM implementation plan for the company, defining what are the general

needs and BIM goals for the future. According to the results of the interviews, the people involved in the

implementation group should have important characteristics, such as a positive attitude towards BIM,

dedication for the transformation process, and great leadership skills. Moreover, a deep knowledge of BIM

and all the practices necessary to successfully implement it is considered an essential element in this phase.

The created group should consists of at least one person from the tactical level and one from the operational

level, such as a BIM coordinator, with knowledge of BIM software, processes and availability to collaborate

with the rest of the company during all the stages of BIM implementation. Finally, internal incentives can be

proposed as a motivation for the successful achievement of the BIM implementation’s goals.

J. Trainings of resources and employees – human resource development plan


12. Overcoming the comfort of employees to change their working practice

When BIM is implemented in a design firm, new knowledge and skills are required by the employees to

correctly use the new software. For this reason, according to the results of the interviews, two possible paths

can be followed. The first one regards the possibility the company has to hire new professional figures, such

as BIM coordinators, BIM managers or BIM specialists, in order to overcome the lack of BIM capabilities

inside the firm. The second possible way to increase BIM competences is to promote trainings among

resources and employees about what BIM is, what are the main benefits for its use and how can the main

BIM-related software be used. In order to establish how the new capability is built up inside the firm, there is

a need to create a human resource development plan. This plan should start with an analysis of the current

skills of the employees inside the organization and the potential which can be developed with trainings.

Afterwards, the trainings among employees should start, and those might regard all the levels of the

organization. Finally, a process of leveraging is necessary because of the different level of capabilities

developed inside the organization. From the results which came out from the case-study, GP is now facing

phase 3, aiming to leverage the BIM capabilities of the employees. The required BIM knowledge can be

developed through BIM courses. The learning process shows a loss of productivity of employees in the first

stages, while the new way of working needs to be correctly practiced and understood. From a study of

Autodesk (2012) is has been shown as the time required for an employee to reach the same level of

productivity he had with CAD, is stated to be 3-4 months. On the other hand, BIM courses have an high

impact as cost for the organization, and that’s a reason why some design firms prefer to hire new resources

instead of trainings the existing ones.


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K. Developing collaboration and procedural protocol


8. Information exchange and set up of information from the beginning.

As emerged from the interviews, BIM implementation requires a change for a firm from the traditional way

of working to a more collaborative and integrated approach. Indeed, in a BIM project all the involved parties

collaborate each other on a common parametric model, which can create difficulties. For this reason, there is

a need to develop a collaboration and procedural protocol, to provide a structured plan for BIM use in all the

projects, describing responsibilities, deliverables, level of detail and model management. In order to develop

it, the goals and requirements for BIM have to be set up and as a consequence the specifications can be

drawn for structuring the collaborative and integrated process. The protocol can be used not only when

collaborating between different disciplines inside the same firm, but when managing the collaboration

among different firms in the same project. To this extend, the protocol should help to determine who is

responsible for errors in the model at each phase of the project and who has the control of the updated file

and is authorized to change the model. Several documents can be provided as guidelines of procedural

protocols for an organization trying to implement BIM, such as the Project execution planning guide

developed by the Pennsylvania State University (CIC, 2010), the Autodesk Deployment Plan (Autodesk,

2010) and the standard protocol for use in projects using BIM (Beale and Company, CIC/BIM Pro, 2013).

L. Developing the technical resource plan


11. Interoperability between different software

Most important requirements for BIM solutions (Khemlani, 2007)

1. Full support for producing construction documents in

order not to use another drafting application

6. Ability to work on large projects

2. Smart objects, which maintain connectivity and

relationships between them

7. Multi-disciplinary capability that serves architecture,

structural engineering and MEP

3. Availability of libraries of objects 8. Ability to support preliminary conceptual design modeling

4. Ability to support distributed work processes, with

multiple team members working on the same project

9. Direct integration with energy analysis, structural

analysis and MEP

5. Quality of help and supporting documentation,

tutorials and other learning resources

10. Compatibility with Industry foundation classes (IFC)

Table 27. Most important requirements for BIM solutions (Khemlani, 2007).

BIM implementation requires a strong IT structure to support all the software and tools required for the new

processes. A technical resource plan has to be developed by the BIM implementation team with support of

IT specialists at the same time with the changes in people, roles and responsibilities presented in paragraph 5.

The basic requirements to support BIM implementation are: software and 3D modeling/visualization tools,

an adequate hardware resource, the creation of project data database and object library. An analysis of the

company’s current IT structure is necessary before developing the technical resource plan. Once deciding

internally to the firm which BIM software are going to be used, interoperability issues need to be solved

between the software solutions used by different disciplines of the organization and with external partners. It

is very important to consider the requirements of the downstream processes.

Khemlani (2007) collected in a survey the most important requirements for BIM solutions, which can be

used as a basis for the technical resource plan. Those requirements are summarized in Table 27.


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IFC is currently used in the Italian construction sector, as a standard allowing interoperability. However, it

has been proved how IFC files limit BIM models and do not contain all the information required. For this

reason, collaboration between different firms with IFC files might be difficult.

All the Software implemented inside the firm have to be interoperable between them. To this purpose, a

simulation of the BIM process can be conducted to test all the compatibilities, results and skills of the team

members. For instance, a small portion of a current project can be tested, to understand what are the possible

issues which may be encountered during the process.

To complete the technical resource plan, an analysis of the current software and hardware resources

compliance with BIM requirements have to be done, and at the same time an identification of the software

solutions which allow a high interoperability and compatibility with the current software of the firm and the

designers skills. This question provides and answer to sub-question 2.2 about what kind of IT structure are

necessaries when implementing BIM inside an organization.

6.3 A possible BIM implementation roadmap for an Italian design firm

Fig. 28. BIM implementation roadmap for an Italian design firm.

Chapter 6.2 described all the possible actions and recommendations which can be provided to an Italian

design firm trying to implement BIM inside the organization. Those actions can be sequenced in order to

build up a BIM implementation roadmap which can be used for practical purposes. The proposed sequence

of actions is a consequence of either logical thinking (for example the creation of marketing department

might follow the feasibility study for BIM), either the results from the interviews. Indeed, the interviews

helped to understand which phases The sequence of steps provided can be considered an example for a

design firm on which actions have to be followed when implementing BIM, but it is not limited to itself and

each company should arrange it to its specific and current situation.


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The actions presented in Chapter 6.2 have been divided into five main phases. Each phase represents a step

which a design firm has to follow in order to correctly implement BIM inside the organization. The phases

which have been encountered to be important in a BIM implementation roadmap are:

- Initial or preliminary phase;

- Decision-making phase;

- Planning phase;

- Implementing phase;

- Post implementation phase.

An overview of the BIM implementation roadmap can be found in Table 22.

Phase 1 consists on the BIM feasibility study in order to assess whether BIM implementation can provide

benefits to the company or not. In this phase, a top-down approach is generally followed, with the top

management team who assess BIM feasibility inside the organization for either costs and time required for

its implementation comparing with the long-term benefits which can be obtained by the firm in the future.

Phase 2 or the decision-making phase, consists on the decision-making. The company starts a set of meetings

at the strategic level to discuss strategic issues of BIM and its implementation and to get consensus over the

employees and the top management in order to develop a strategy for BIM implementation. Specifically, in

this phase the company decides which strategy is the best to be followed in order to avoid mistakes during

BIM adoption.

Phase 3 represents the planning phase, in which a real plan for BIM implementation is developed. Here, the

BIM implementation group is built up, which function is to support BIM implementation during the all

process. In this phase the top management collaborates with the BIM implementation group to create a

business model that supports BIM adoption and is aligned with the strategy of the firm itself. Based on the

business model, the implementation group develops a set of goals within the process, and contribute to the

development of a human resource plan and a technical resource development plan. Those plans are

fundamental steps in BIM adoption, to understand which actions have to be conducted in terms of resources

development and IT structure to enable BIM use inside the firm. The human resource development plan and

the technical resource plan are developed in this stage, but can be considered processes which continue over

the all implementation.

Phase 4 represents the most important part of the roadmap, because it regards the implementation itself. In

this stage, the plan developed in the previous phase is implemented inside the firm. Specifically, the

technical resource development and the human resource development are carried out. At the same time, the

collaboration and procedural protocol is developed to stimulate collaboration on BIM projects. Moreover,

this phase regards all the activities concerning the BIM workflow and assigning roles and responsibilities

inside it. This phase represents the core of the all BIM implementation process and for this reason its

activities require more attention when undertaken.

Phase 5, the last step in the BIM implementation roadmap, regards activities which follow the

implementation process, such as the creation of a marketing department which do not affect BIM

implementation inside the firm, but are a direct consequence of it. Indeed, without the creation of a

marketing department, the firm cannot share its capabilities with clients and other companies in a profitable

way.

The proposed BIM implementation roadmap is an example of which activities can be undertaken to correctly

and successfully implement BIM inside an organization. However, as mentioned above, each company

should reflect on a personalized roadmap, depending on the current BIM situation of the firm and what are

the goals to be reached in mid-long term.

When proposing a sequence of activities which an Italian design firm might follow when implementing BIM,

an answer to the sub-question 2.3 is provided.


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6.4 Conclusions of chapter 6

This Chapter, as a consequence of Chapter 6, aimed to find out what are the possible recommendations

which can be provided to a generic Italian design company encountering the same or similar BIM

implementation challenges which came out from the case-study. To this purpose, in the first phase semi-

structured interviews with BIM implementation experts, Professors or PhD candidates of prestigious Italian

universities, digital transformation experts and BIM professionals took place, while in the second phase a

literature review was carried out to find out what are the best approaches to overcome the identified BIM

implementation challenges. The main question to be answered is:

What are the possible strategies and recommendations needed for an Italian design company to overcome



Specifically, the research question was divided into three sub-questions which were answered in this chapter.

Those sub-questions are:

2.1 What kind of recommendations can be provided for an organization to overcome the challenges


2.2 What kind of change management is it necessary in the organizations (people and managers) and

from an ICT perspective to facilitate and apply correctly the BIM methodology into Italian

construction companies?


implement BIM into its ever-day working routine?

To provide an answer to the research question, the chapter was divided into two sections. First of all, an

overview of all the recommendations and actions which can be undertaken to overcome the BIM

implementation challenges found out in the previous chapter was provided. Those actions were divided into

contextual level actions, referring to the context and external actor, such as the government, public or private

clients, and organizational, if the company itself is the responsible party for those actions.

Two contextual level actions were found out, which are the development of new regulations about BIM

model’s privacy and the BIM process in general inside the Italian construction market and the stimulation of

the client’s BIM request in construction projects.

For the organizational level, ten actions can be undertaken to overcome the challenges. In particular,

developing a feasibility study for BIM, setting up a BIM strategy, developing a BIM workflow, addressing

BIM roles and responsibilities, creating a marketing department, creating the BIM implementation group,

developing a business model for BIM, creating a collaboration and procedural protocol and a technical

resource plan are considered to be the best actions to be conducted by an Italian design firm trying to

overcome the above mentioned challenges. Moreover, while describing the recommendations, an overview

of what kind of changes are necessary when implementing BIM in terms of people (change management),

organization (organizational structure) and ICT structure (software and interoperability) were analyzed as

well.

In the second section, an answer to the sub-question 2.3 is given, by sequencing all the steps which were

described in the previous part of the chapter. As a consequence, a roadmap for BIM implementation which

can be used for practical purposes by an Italian design firm is proposed. The roadmap was divided into five

phases which are: the Initial or preliminary phase, Decision-making phase, Planning phase, Implementing

phase and Post implementation phase. The roadmap, proposed in Table 22, is a result of the research which

can be used as a practical example by Italian design firms, however each company should reflect on a

personalized BIM implementation path, depending on the current BIM situation of the firm and what are the

goals to be reached in mid-long term.


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7. Discussion and limitations

This research extends and can be integrated to the literature regarding BIM implementation in construction

companies. Specifically, the challenges regarding BIM implementation encountered by a design firm with a

relevant presence in the Italian construction sector were analyzed through the research. Several reflections

can be made on the results of this study, when comparing to the existing literature about the same topic.

From a broader perspective, previous researches were conducted on the past about BIM implementation

challenges for an organization. Theories such as Arjen Adriaanse’s framework about ICT adoption into

construction companies (Adriaanse, 2007), the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) (Rogers, 1995), the

technological organizational and environmental framework (TOE) (Tornatzky et al. 1990) have been used as

a baseline for the theoretical framework developed in phase 1 of the study. The IDT theory explains how,

why and at what rate an innovation spread through cultures, operating at the individual and organizational

level (Straub, 2009). The Technological, Organizational and Environmental (TOE) framework, developed by

Tornatzky et al. (1990), differs from the other theories related to the adoption of technology at individual

level and its focus is mainly on the implementation of technological innovation at the organizational level

(Oliveira and Martins, 2011). The theory described with the TOE framework consisted an example of which

challenges might influence BIM implementation in Italian design companies, specifically because it includes

the environmental and external context which needs to be considered when studying the Italian construction

sector. Accoridng to Adriaanse et al. (2009) personal and external motivation, knowledge and skills, acting

opportunities have to be considered important factors when implementing ICT in construction companies.

The problem of identifying the challenges regarding BIM implementation inside a design firm was

investigated by previous researches (Vass and Gustavsson, 2017) (AL-Btoush and Haron, 2017) (Hatem et

al., 2018). These studies stated how challenges regarding the technological (interoperability), organizational

(initial cost, time required, re-organization of team, new roles, data exchange and collaborative way of

working), individual (resistance of people towards change) and environmental (regulations and norms, lack

of clients request, common standards and information exchange) aspects of BIM implementation inside

design firms were found out by previous researches as well. Moreover, the case-study method has been used

as favorite method of research in many cases (Vass and Gustavsson, 2017) (AL-Btoush and Haron, 2017),

because of the immediate source of data a the observation of a design company might offer.

Design companies are the first involved in the construction process for BIM implementation. However BIM

implementation challenges influenced all the firms involved in the supply chain, such as contractors and

suppliers. Bosch-Sijtsema et al. (2017) explains how the lack of clients awareness about BIM affects BIM

implementation among contractors as well. Moreover, as a result of this research it can be seen as challenges

such as “lack of collaboration” between different firms, and “lack of regulations about common standards”

and ownership of the model are delaying BIM implementation in Italian construction projects because all the

firms involved in a BIM project (suppliers, contractors, design firms) do not trust each other on sharing

relevant data, while with the use of IFC files important information are lost.

However, the BIM implementation process refers to a socio-technical view in which it does not only

consider the implementation of technology but also the socio-cultural environment that provides the context

for its implementation (Arayici et al. 2011). To this extend, the specific context of the research (the Italian

construction sector) explains why some environmental challenges such as “BIM adoption at a national level”

and “regulations and norms” are delaying more BIM implementation in Italy than in other European

countries such as Norway, Sweden, Finland (COBIM, 2012), UK (AEK BIM technology protocol, 2015)

Netherlands, France (Guide Methodologique, 2016) and Germany (Egger et al., 2013). This can be explained

as a consequence of the Italian traditional way of working (cultural aspect), lack of strong governmental

position “pro-BIM” and people’s resistance to change. Those aspects explains why challenges of the


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theoretical framework such as “Lack of regulations and norms”, “BIM adoption at a national level”,

“cultural aspect” and “Developing a collaborative way of working” emerged from the case-study. The most

important aspect is the use of different, more specific definitions for the case-study challenges because those

are adapted to the Italian context, while the results of previous researches explain general BIM

implementation challenges which might be encountered by a design/construction firm. An example can be

provided by the change of the theoretical framework “Regulation and norms” which was found in previous

studies as well (Hatem et al., 2018), but in this context is re-phrased in “Lack of regulations about BIM

models’ privacy, collaboration and in general how to deal with a construction process with BIM”, adapted to

the context in which the research was conducted. From the challenges which came up from the case-study, it

is relevant to observe the interconnection and overlapping between different issues. An example can be

provided by the organizational challenges which are affected by individual issues as well. To this extend, the

challenge “lack of all company’s members direction to BIM” can be influenced by individual and human

factors as well (such as the individual drive towards change). The interconnection between different

challenges has been considered in previous researches as well (Adriaanse et al. 2009) and it was confirmed

by this research as well.

The case-study method appears to generalize the results of a single firm to the broader Italian construction

sector, while some differences might emerge from similar studies. Moreover, it can be noticed how the IT

structure of a company differs from others, and this challenge has to be related to the specific situation of the

case-study.

The BIM implementation roadmap development for an Italian design firm, can be connected to previous

researches about European (Khosrowshahi and Arayici, 2012) and not European (HKCIC, 2014) countries

with an higher BIM adoption. Indeed, those studies aimed to propose the sequence of actions which can be

performed in order to achieve a lean BIM implementation inside design firms. The result of this study is

similar to the previous researches for the organizational level actions (Khosrowshahi and Arayici, 2012),

while the contextual level actions are those which differ the most when comparing the results of this research

with precious studies. In specific, the development of new regulations hat to be considered to the selected

context of the country and in Italy the lack of regulations about models’ privacy emerged to be an obstacle to

BIM adoption at a national level. Moreover, the BIM implementation roadmap presented in Chapter 6 has to

be adapted to the specific context of the firm: for example small design firms cannot follow all the steps

(such as the creation of a marketing department, or the creation of a BIM department), but it can be stated as

this roadmap can be applied by Italian design firms with a similar size and dimension to the case-study of

this research.

The analysis of BIM implementation challenges for an Italian design firm can be considered relevant, as in

the literature no example about similar researchers can be found. In fact, even if similar researches have been

conducted in other countries, BIM is partially a new theme for the Italian construction industry and for this

reason this research reached its goal to provide a guideline of what the challenges an Italian design

organization has to face when implementing BIM are, and what can be done in practice in terms of steps (or

actions) to overcome the above mentioned challenges.

7.1 Limitations of the research

Unavoidably, the research had some limitations. Three main limitations were found out from the research.

1. First of all it has to be mentioned how there might be challenges which did not emerge from the literature

or were not taken into account during phase 1 of the research. This issue can be considered a consequence of

the large amount of papers regarding BIM implementation which can be found in the literature, fact which

leads to multiple challenges from different researchers.


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2. Secondly, three limitations emerged from the case-study, which are analyzed in paragraph 5.7.1.

Specifically, those limitations are:

- The context in which the research is conducted (the Italian construction sector), which reflects the

challenges of a specific country in a specific historical period. All the challenges presented in the theoretical

framework were found out through researches in other countries, fact that needs to be mentioned when

comparing it with the framework developed in the Italian context. The context of the research affected the

environmental and individual results as those depends on the environmental situation of the country and

individual aspects.

- The choice of General Planning as case-study for the research, because of the different findings which the

same research in another Italian organization might have, and its location in the region of Milan, European

and Italian economic capital, where IT adoption is more stimulated than other Italian regions (such as the

South of Italy). This limitation can be seen in the technological challenges which emerged from the case-

study.

- The dimension of the firm selected as case-study influenced the way BIM implementation challenges are

perceived, because a company of 50-60 employees has a different organizational structure and follows

different project workflows when compared with a 200 employees firm. The firm’s size, structure and

dimension influence the organizational challenges which come up from the research.

For all the reasons mentioned above, it appears to be clear why these challenges emerged rather than others,

and why there are some differences between the found out issues and those collected from the literature.

In conclusion, even if the theoretical framework can be considered a basis for the research, slight differences

appear from its comparison with the developed framework, even if it does not appear the theoretical

framework was incomplete or with some missing parts. In fact, those differences can be considered a

consequence of either the context in which the research was conducted and the case-study selection (region

and size of the firm).

All the limitations part of the case-study can be found in Figure 29.

Fig. 29. Limitations of the case-study results and related challenges.

3. Finally, it has to be mentioned as the BIM implementation roadmap developed in phase 3 of the research

is just an example of activities which can be undertaken by an Italian design firm implementing BIM inside

its organization, while it has to be adapted to the current and specific situation of the firm. To this purpose,

different activities can be proposed which do not aim to solve the challenges but are still useful for BIM

implementation. Those activities have not been included in the research because of its different purpose to

provide recommendations and solutions to the identified challenges.

To sum up, even if the research had some limitations, it can be seen as the main objective of the research has

been reached and its results might be used by future researchers about BIM implementation challenges, as

well as by practitioners, such as construction companies facing the digital transition from CAD to BIM.

Case-study Limitations Challenges influenced by the limitation

Context of the research – Italian construction

sector



Specific Italian region (Milan) and choice of

a frontrunner Italian company for BIM

adoption


Firm’s size, structure and dimension Organizational challenges


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Main limitations of the research

1. Some challenges might not have emerged during the literature review

2. Case study limitations:

- Context of the research – Italian construction sector

- Specific Italian region (Milan) and choice of a frontrunner Italian company for BIM

adoption

- Firm’s size, structure and dimension

3. The BIM implementation roadmap has to be adapted to the specific situation of each

design firm

Fig. 30. Main limitations of the research.


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8. General conclusions of the research

This Chapter aims to provide a general conclusion for the all research. The objective of this research was to

provide to Italian companies involved in the construction industry an overview about the obstacles, problems

and challenges related to BIM implementation and how can those problems be overcome by explaining

which actions and recommendations can be undertaken to successfully implement BIM inside an

organization.

In specific, two main research questions were answered, while conducting the research:

1. What are the obstacles, problems and challenges which an Italian design firm might encounter during

BIM implementation?




To provide an answer to the two research questions, different steps have been followed during the research,

each one logically connected with the previous and the following one.

8.1 Main conclusions

The research project have been divided into three main parts. Phase 1 and 2 aim to answer to the firs main

question of the study, while question 2 will be answered by the third phase of the research.

1. What are the obstacles, problems and challenges which an Italian design firm might encounter during

BIM implementation?

In the first part, Chapter four, a literature review was carried out to collect all the challenges related to the

adoption of BIM into a theoretical framework, which can be used as a baseline for the following section

(Chapter 6). The results of the literature review shows as the challenges can be divided into four main

groups: environmental, organizational, individual and technological. This section aims to provide an answer

to the first sub-question of the research and, at the same time, to build up a theoretical framework which will

be compared with the results of the case-study. As results of the literature review, as it can be seen in

Appendix 1, four environmental challenges were identified (regulations and norms, common standards and

information exchange, BIM adoption in a national level and level of client’s awareness for the use of BIM),

which affect an organization externally, while three individual challenges (cultural aspect, individual drive

towards change, knowledge and skills), three technological challenges (interoperability, current IT

infrastructure support and scalability of BIM models) and eleven organizational challenges (time necessary

to adopt the new processes, high initial investment, organizational structure and strategy, top management

support, re-define the business model, assign responsibilities for BIM implementation, re-organization of

teams, data exchange within the firm, developing a collaborative way of working, promotion of the

company’s BIM capacity, contract change arrangements and costs) were identified as problems a firm needs

to face internally.

In the second phase of the research, a case-study research method has been used, to analyze the current and

expected BIM situation and design practices of an Italian design company and at the same time to find out

what are the challenges the company had to face, or it is still facing, while conducting the digital transition

CAD-BIM. The selected firm, General Planning Spa (GP), can be considered a frontrunner for the adoption

of BIM in the Italian construction sector, as one of the first design companies which decided to adopt BIM

inside the organization. Moreover, because of the relevant position GP has in the Italian construction market

(12th design company by earnings in 2016), the challenges affecting BIM implementation inside the firm can

be considered a great example of the obstacles all the Italian design firms might find when deciding to


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implement BIM in the organization. The case-study aimed to answer to the sub-questions 1.2 and 1.3,

providing an overview of the current and desired BIM situation of GP and explaining which BIM

implementation challenges emerged from the case-study. It emerged that the company is deeply involved in

the digitalization process, but a lot of work has still to be done in order to adapt the traditional way of

working to the BIM procedures. Moreover, it has been noticed as the actual BIM maturity level of the

company is between 1 and 2, while the desired one is the BIM maturity level 2.

Several BIM implementation challenges came up from the case-study observation and from the interviews

with the employees. Specifically the twelve BIM implementation challenges are: (1) Lack of client

awareness about BIM advantages and request of BIM, (2) Lack of regulations about BIM models’ privacy,

collaboration and in general how to deal with a construction process with BIM, (3) Lack of collaboration

between companies, especially when data are not protected, (4) Traditional way of working is still followed

without a clear BIM workflow, (5) Lack of well-defined roles and responsibilities, (6) Overcoming the

comfort of employees to change their working practice, (7) High initial investment without assessing BIM

economic advantages in the short-term, (8) Lack of all the company’s members direction to BIM, (9)

Information exchange and set up of information from the beginning, (10) The company’s BIM capability is

not well promoted, (11) Interoperability between different software, (12) High initial time to be invested to

create templates, collaborative way of working and first projects with BIM.

The BIM implementation challenges of the case-study were compared with the theoretical framework

previously developed. Interesting results emerged from the comparison between theory and practice.

- For the environmental challenges found out from the case-study, the framework does not include directly

the common standards and information exchange as a relevant challenge, because of a lack of regulations

about this concept. However, it can be seen that the lack of regulations refers to the BIM models’ privacy,

while the lack of collaboration between companies emerged when data are not protected.

- From the technological challenges which came up from the theoretical framework, only the interoperability

between different software slightly affected the BIM implementation in GP as a result of the strong IT

system implemented by the company in the last years.

- For the individual challenges it can be noticed as inside GP, almost all the designers seem to show

difficulties in overcoming the comfort to change their working practice. For this reason, this issue, which is a

consequence of the Italian traditional way of working, includes the cultural aspect as well as the employees’

skills and knowledge about new software, which are part of the theoretical framework.

- The organizational challenges are those which changed the most when comparing the theoretical

framework with the results. Some of the challenges emerged in the case-study, such as the high initial

investment, the lack of company’s direction to BIM, lack of BIM capability’s promotion, information

exchange and time-consuming process. However, two new challenges came up, the lack of a clear BIM

workflow and, as a consequence, the lack of well-defined roles and responsibilities aligned with the tasks

developed through the workflow itself. Moreover, a lack of all company’s members direction to BIM

appeared to be relevant, a high top management support emerged, while the business model re-definition did

not emerge as a relevant challenge and contract changes will be an important future challenge.




The third phase of the research aimed to provide an answer to second main research question of the research

and it can be divided into two main parts. In the first section an overview of all the recommendations and

actions which can be undertaken to overcome the BIM implementation challenges found out in the previous

chapter was provided. From the results, it can be seen as the actions can be divided into those which affect

the company externally, contextual level actions, and those which regards the company directly,

organizational actions. To the first group of contextual level actions, the development of new regulations


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about BIM model’s privacy and the BIM process in general inside the Italian construction market and the

stimulation of the client’s BIM request in construction projects emerged to be relevant.

For the organizational level, ten actions proposed to overcome the challenges are: developing a feasibility

study for BIM, setting up a BIM strategy, developing a BIM workflow, addressing BIM roles and

responsibilities, creating a marketing department, creating the BIM implementation group, developing a

business model for BIM, creating a collaboration and procedural protocol and a technical resource plan are

considered to be the best actions to be conducted by an Italian design firm trying to overcome the above

mentioned challenges. In the second part of phase 3, a sequence of all the actions which can be undertaken to

correctly implement BIM inside an organization is provided. As a consequence, a roadmap for BIM

implementation which can be used for practical purposes by an Italian design firm is proposed. The roadmap

was divided into five phases which are: the Initial or preliminary phase, Decision-making phase, Planning

phase, Implementing phase and Post implementation phase. The roadmap resulted from the research can be

used either for practical purposes by another Italian design firm trying to adopt BIM, either for future

researches.


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10. Appendixes

Appendix 1. Theoretical framework


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Appendix 2

Appendix 2. General Planning’s organization chart.


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Appendix 3

Appendix 3. Timeline about BIM implementation steps of General Planning.


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Appendix 4: Case study – Interview questions

Fixed questions

General questions

1 What is your role within the firm? 2. What are the general characteristics of the firm? (History, markets, general development)

Current BIM situation 3. Why and when did you implement BIM into the practices?

4. What is the current situation regarding designing practices (or the use of BIM) within your


Desired BIM situation:

5. What is the desired situation regarding the use of BIM in your team/department/division?

b. Is there a consensual opinion formed around these intentions? c. What benefits are expected from implementing and using BIM?

6.. Do you think the company is representative for the Italian construction sector or a frontrunner? Why?

Variable questions

BIM implementation challenges

7. Which BIM major challenges did the company face with, when implementing BIM? a. What is the level of importance for all the expected BIM challenges in the implementation process?

Specifically (Depending on the department and the role in the company):


- How is the company affected by regulations and norms regarding BIM implementation?

- What is the situation regarding Commons standards and information exchange?

- To which extend does BIM adoption in a national level affect the company?

Organizational challenges

- What was (is) the time necessary to implement BIM within the organization?

- How does the high initial investment affect the company’s decision to implement BIM?

- How did the organizational structure and strategy of the company change when BIM was implemented?

- Did the top management support BIM implementation?

- How was re-defined the business model when BIM was implemented?

- Who took the responsibilities for BIM implementation? Internal or external?

- How did the re-organization of teams take place?

- How did the data exchange methods change within the firm?

- Was there a problem in developing a collaborative way of working? To which extend?

- What was necessary in order to promote the company’s BIM capacity?

- What was changed in terms of contract arrangements and costs?


- How did the cultural aspect affect BIM implementation?

- How did the individual drive towards change affected BIM implementation?

- What were the knowledge and skills and how did they had to change when implementing BIM?


- Was it there a problem of interoperability within the firm?

- How did the current IT infrastructure support BIM?

- How did the scalability of BIM model issue affect the company? 8. What are specific issues playing at the firm?


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Appendix 5. Level of challenges’ impact on the BIM implementation process

Table 16. BIM implementation challenges’ impact on the BIM implementation process of General Planning.

The previous chapter aims to underline and describe the BIM implementation challenges of the case-study.

However, the effect of these challenges on the BIM implementation process is not the same. For this reason,

this chapter will assess the level of impact those challenges had on the BIM implementation process. This

assessment is a consequence of either the results of the interview (perception and opinion of the respondents)

either the number of interviews the challenge emerged, and as a consequence, how many times it was noticed

during the case-study. For challenges which occurred from 7 to 10 interviews, a high level of impact was

assigned. On the other hand, challenges which emerged from 0 to 3 times in the interview process did not

largely affect BIM implementation inside GP. For all the other challenges which came up only in 4, 5 or 6

interviews, the level of impact is difficult to measure, and for this reason a high or low impact cannot be

assigned based only on the results of the interviews. Afterwards, the challenges’ level of impact was

validated by the Project manager of the firm itself, in order to get an internal confirmation of the results.

Table 16 provides an immediate description of how the previously described impact affected the

digitalization process in GP. As it can be seen from Table 16, the lack of client awareness about BIM

advantages and request of BIM, the lack of a clear workflow and well-assigned roles and responsibilities, the

information exchange and set up of information from the beginning are the challenges which mostly affected

the implementation of BIM within the firm. On the other hand, it can be noticed as challenges such as

Overcoming the comfort of employees to change their working practice”, the high initial investment, the lack

of company’s members direction to BIM, the promotion of the company’s BIM capacity and interoperability

did not highly affected BIM implementation in GP, as they did not occur in many interviews. For other

challenges such as the lack of collaboration between companies, lack of regulations, and the high initial time

invested the level of impact is difficult to measure and for this reason it cannot be assigned based only on the

result of the interviews.

BIM implementation challenges of the case-study

Level of Impact on

the BIM

implementation

process

Number of

interviews

underlying the

challenge

Lack of client awareness about BIM advantages and request of BIM high 8

Lack of regulations about BIM models’ privacy, collaboration and in general how to deal with a construction process with BIM

difficult to define 4

Lack of collaboration between companies, especially when data are not

protected difficult to define 4

Traditional way of working is still followed without a clear BIM workflow high 9

Lack of well-defined roles and responsibilities high 7

Overcoming the comfort of employees to change their working practice low 3

High initial investment without assessing BIM economic advantages in the

short-term low 1

Lack of all the company’s members direction to BIM low 2

Information exchange and set up of information from the beginning high 7

Promotion of the company’s BIM capacity low 3

Interoperability between different software version low 3

High initial time to be invested to create templates, collaborative way of

working and first projects with BIM difficult to define 5


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Appendix 6: BIM experts – Interview questions

Fixed questions

General questions

1. What is your role and expertise?

2. How are you involved in BIM implementation?

Main questions

3. Given the developed framework, how can an Italian design firm overcome the most important issues

encountered when implementing BIM into the firm?

4. What kind of changes are necessary in a design organization in terms of people and managers

(change management), when implementing BIM?

5. What kind of changes are necessary from an ICT perspective (not only from a software prospective)

and licenses in order to make it worth the implementation of BIM?

6. What kind of business model can be defined when implementing BIM and how can be considered a

correct business strategy for a design firm which is conducting the digital transition CAD/BIM?

7. Which steps are necessary in order to implement BIM into a design firm, which has never worked

with it before?


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Appendix 7: BIM workflow


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Appendix 7: BIM workflow (continuation)

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